


Broken Trust (Re-upload)

by wooliebear



Series: broken trust and other tales [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Child Abuse, Dadster, Depression, Human Sans (Undertale), Injury, Minor Injuries, Papyrus is kind of a shit head, Past Child Abuse, Re Upload, Underswap Papyrus (Undertale), Underswap Sans (Undertale), everyone else is a monster, hints of - Freeform, underswap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-20
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2020-05-15 02:16:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19286074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wooliebear/pseuds/wooliebear
Summary: Papyrus discovers the monster he has been living with is not really his brother.He's not even really a monster.Papyrus doesn't know what Sans is anymoreThis is a slightly updated re- upload of one of the fic's from my old account.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this fic forever ago before I started taking medication. After I started the meds I got a lot better but it really messed with my writing. It has been so long since i wrote this and it has been in the back of my mind that I never got to finish this when it was so close to being done. I need to finish this for myself and I lost my old password so poof! Here it is!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

It shouldn't have happened like this.

It shouldn't have happened at all but it most certainly shouldn't have happened like this.

Sans stood his bedroom shocked. Down stairs he heard the front door slam shut.

_ I need to go after him. _

But when he tried to move, his legs went out from under him. The next thing Sans knew he was sitting on the floor. Warm tears streamed down his face, his real face, while his frame was wracked with deep heaving sobs.

_ I can't let him go I need to- I need to- _

However there was nothing he could do. His rejection was too fresh and Papy's anger was too hot.

When no perfect plan came to mind that could fix this problem. Sans was left lying on his bedroom floor a shaking mess.

"Papy please..."

But nobody came.

* * * * *

Nobody had seen Sans in a week.

No one had seen Papyrus in a week either but a few monsters had seen him storm out of town. So they figured the brothers had a fight. It was not unusual it had happened a few times in the past.

It was never this bad though.

Sans would always continue on with his duties during that time and Papyrus would come home after a day or two. Then they would make up and the town would let out a collective breath. Nobody like to see the two brothers unhappy.

This time was different, everyone was concerned about the smaller of the two brothers.

Muffet had stopped by three days after the fight. She had come with a basket of doughnuts to try and cheer the depressed monster up. Really she was just checking if he was still alive.

Although Sans didn't open the door and all the shades were drawn she did get a muffled "Please go away"  that let her know that he was at least alive. She left the doughnuts on the front step and left.

The next day the sweets were gone but still no one had seen Sans.

As the week progressed a Bratty and Cattie  came by to check in on him. They got about the same response as Muffet had but told Sans they were here for him. They had both worked with the small skeleton and his absence was starting to worry them greatly. Sans would always have a bright smile and kind word for them no mater the situation. Even when they talked trash about the other gaurds, including Papyrus, Sans would just smile shake his head and shoo them along. 

“We are totally here to talk if you need it!” “Totally! You can like, call us if you need anything!” 

There was a muffled thanks and nothing more.

When Friday rolled around the inn keeper stopped by as well. She had some food with her because she was worried that Sans might not be eating. He hadn't been to the store in a while. She had no idea how much food he kept on hand. So she brought a casserole and left it on his doorstep with a note. It said that if he needed anything to just give her a call along with her phone number.

The food went untouched all day but the next morning it was gone. The thought that Sans at least had some food on hand helped her sleep easier.

On the seventh evening somebody finally called Alphys.

* * * * *

"PAPYRUS!" Alphys yelled as she stormed into the room followed by an embarrassed looking Undyne. Papyrus raised his head slightly to look at the two.

He had been crashing at Undyne’s ever since the fight. He didn't want to go home and chance running into his broth-

Sans.

He didn't want to run into Sans.

He had a feeling deep down he might have hurt Sans' but the majority of his emotions were devoted to feeling angry and betrayed. He wasn't willing to let those go quite yet. So he had spent the week sleeping on Undyne's couch and smoking large amounts of weed not thinking about what had happened.

He had been doing a good job of it too. Until Alphys had so rudely interrupted his moping.

"Sup." was all he said as he let his head fall back into position.

"Sup? SUP!?!? IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!"

There was the sound of a scuffle and when he risked a peek Undyne was holding Alphys so she couldn't rush forward and give Papyrus the beating she clearly thought he deserved.

"You son of a bitch!" The guardsmen growled at Papyrus when the struggling had calmed down.

"What did you do to Sans?"

"Me?" Papyrus asked shifting himself so he was slouched in a more upright position on the sofa. "I didn't do anything. If you want to know what happened ask Sans." He continued with an annoyed air.

"Why you..." Alphys started but was cut off by Undyne putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"I don't think he knows.." The doctor said in a quiet voice.

"Knows what?" he asked a little nervously. Even though he was enraged at Sans in a moment his mind immediately went to all  of his favorite worries. Was he dead? Had he fallen down? Has someone kidnapped him?

But an ugly emotion and a disturbing thought ran underneath all the familiar worry.

_ Why should I care? _

With a shaking hand Papyrus pulled out a cigarette and lit it. After he took a drag and let most of the smoke out of his mouth the skeleton asked .

"Knows what ?"

Alphys spoke with nothing but contempt. "He hasn't come out of the house in days !"

"Has anyone made sure he’s still kickin in there?"

When he got no response he looked up to see the shocked look on Undyne’s face and the disgusted look on Alphys.

"For your information yes. The whole town’s been trying to coax him out but nothing's worked! The only response anyone gets is a "Thank you" if they leave something or a "Go away" if they try to come in!" Alphys was raging but there was an underlying sadness to her words. "He wouldn't even open the door for me." Her voice cracked on the last sentence and it was clear she was very worried.

"Whatever happened." Undyne said picking up where Alphys left off "You two need to make up."

"Maybe next week." Papyrus said trying to lay down on the sofa once more.

"No! TODAY!" Alphys yelled

"Yes I have some important test I need to attend to and they are very dangerous so..." Undyne almost whispered. She was a shitty liar at the best of times.

_ Oh _ Papyrus thought  _ she's kicking me ou _ t.

and she did.

Alphys made sure to escort the pouting skeleton out of the labs herself. She even walked him halfway back to snowdin.

When they got close to her house in waterfall she said the only thing she would say for the whole trip. "If you don't fix this thing with your brother then you can kiss your sentry position good bye."

"He's not my brother." Was Papyrus' response.

Alphys just rolled her eyes and left him standing there in the road half smoked cigarette hanging from his teeth.

As he slowly started to trek home all he could think was about how little he wanted to Go back to that place.

 

He wanted to be anywhere else really. Unfortunately he had spent all his gold on food and didn't have enough for a night at the Inn. He could probably couch surf food a few more weeks but to what end?

He would have to face Sans sooner or later.

With his lack of funds it was going to have to be sooner. So that how Papyrus found himself begrudgingly trekking back to his house . The relieved faces of the villagers he passed did nothing for his mood. They all thought this was just a normal family argument. Boy were they about to be surprised.

He was just going home to get more gold and a change of clothes then he would be off again.

On his way home he saw Muffet walking down the road towards him. When Muffet saw him she waved him down with four of her arms.

"Thank god you're back." She said. Her usual mischievous smile was strained and she looked tired.

"Uhhhh yea." Papyrus said rubbing the back of his skull. He didn't know how to tell her this wasn't permanent so he kept his mouth shut.

"We have been so worried about you and your brother! The poor little thing. Maybe you can get him out of the house. God knows none of us can."

Papyrus just nodded his head agreeably "Yeah, I'll give it a shot." but would he really?

"Thank goodness!" Muffet exclaimed looking relived. "Deary I am so happy you’re back! I left some doughnuts on your doorstep. Consider them a welcome home present."

Papyrus smiled and It was a little less forced. "Doughnuts free of charge? Is the world ending?"

Muffet just laughed into one of her hands and waved dismissively with another. "Don't worry dear I just put them on your tab."

"Of course you did." Papyrus said with a fond shake of his head.

Of course there chat couldn't last forever and Muffet had to go and attend to her business.  Papyrus had to go home to get his stuff.

Well maybe he would stay long enough to munch on a few doughnuts but then he was gone.

The rest of the walk home he tried not to think about anything.

He just focused on the cold fresh snowdin air. The crunch of fresh snow beneath his feet. The lights in the windows he passed. Everything but the task at hand. He had spent a week avoiding this problem and he would be damned if he started thinking about it now.

When he reached his house all of the curtains were drawn and the lights were out. Sitting on the porch sat a  wicker basket. It was decorated with a pink ribbon and the doughnuts were covered by a light purple napkin.

That was most definitely from Muffet.

Papyrus grabbed the basket and unlocked the front door. As he stepped inside he flicked on the lights then kicked off his shoes.

He was glad Sans wasn't downstairs waiting for him. However his gratitude quickly turned to worry when he actually looked at the living room.

It wasn't a mess. However it did look... disused. Sans boots were sitting neatly by the door unmoved since he had seen them last. The remote was still sticking out of the couch cushion at an odd angle from when Papyrus had watched TV last week. All in all it was unsettling.

_ not my problem _ Papyrus thought walking to the kitchen so he could set down the basket of food.

The kitchen was dark,everything was dark,Sans always left a light on for him so every time he had to flick on a switch it made him feel, off. Papyrus went into the kitchen holding the basket only to find another identical basket already placed there. When he lifted up the napkin he saw this one was also full of uneaten spider donuts.

An uneasy thought struck him. Looking in the fridge he saw an uneaten casserole along with two leftovers containers clearly labeled with Sans neat handwriting. The containers were still full of food and the date on them was last week.

The uneasy thought was now a little more prominent in his head. Walking over to the sink he saw old unwashed dishes. He tried to tell himself they were recent but the dried on food told him they were not.

Papyrus was trying not to panic. He tried to tell himself it wasn't his problem but if Sans hadn't been eating...

How long could humans go without food?

Papyrus had no clue. He knew now that Sans wasn't really a monster. He had caught him without his mask. For the first time since that fateful day Papyrus though, really thought, about the implications.

If Sans was a monster and not eating that would have been fine because sitting around the house all day took almost no energy. He wouldn't have to top off because he wouldn't have used much. However Papyrus was fairly sure he had read in a book that humans had to eat on a regular basis or they...

Now he was starting to panic and that panic was starting to override his anger.

"Sans?" He called out hoping for a response.

All that greeted him was silence.

He walked to the stairway and tried again.

"Sans?"

but there was still no response.

Shit he's dead and that thought got him moving.

He bolted up the stairs and rushed into Sans room without knocking fearing the worst.

It was dark and couldn't see anything. The lights were off and for a single moment a childish fear overcame him. He couldn't turn on the light. If he did he would have to face whatever terror lurked in that darkness.

"Sans?" He asked for the third time.

When there was still no response Papyrus flicked the lights on. It was better to know for sure something was bad. It was better than standing there not knowing.

When the light filled the room he was greeted with all of Sans possessions. His book shelf, UFO poster, the models he had spent hours putting together at the kitchen table...

He was reminded of all the years they had spent together and suddenly his anger was replaced with immense guilt. If anything happened to Sans he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Speaking of witch....

"Sans are you in here?" He looked to where Sans usually slept and saw  there was a lump under the sheets but there was no movement . The childish fear came back but Papyrus was starting to realize it wasn’t childish. Faced with what he might find under that blamket this was turining into a very real fear. 

Slowly walking over to the bed Papyrus tried one last time to rouse the lump.

"Sans if you're awake let me know 'k? You're really freaking me out here."

But Sans still didn't move. So Papyrus grabbed the the top of the comforter and pulled it down.

* * * * *

After what seamed like hours Sans stopped crying.

Not because he wasn't sad anymore but because he was just too tired.

He just felt so lethargic, Sans was used to being full of energy not sleepy and sad. He turned his head to the side and saw his mask lying on the floor. He also caught a glimpse of himself in his full length mirror and cringed.

He felt like he was looking at a stranger. His blue eyes were bloodshot from crying. His normally dark skin had taken on an ashy pale tone. His hair , well it was time for one of his patented self given haircuts. Right now it was a mess. He liked to keep it short but hadn't had time to trim it so it was getting long and the ends were starting to curl.

He felt the tears start to well up again, he was just so ugly .

Not for the first time Sans wished he had been born a monster. It would be nice to be a skeleton like papyrus or a lizard like Alphys. Sometimes on bad days Sans would try and imagine what he would look like as different monsters.

But bad days were rare. Sans could go weeks without thinking about how human he was. He would just be good old Sans the skeleton. Snowdin sentry and all around good guy. Older brother of Papyrus the lazy good natured goofball.

_ Papy _

When he came home Sans would tell him everything. He would explain the situation and if Papyrus still hated him and couldn't bare to even look at him. Well Sans would understand. He could barely look at himself sometimes.

The thought of Papyrus coming home and seeing him without his mask got Sans going a bit. He crawled over to where his mask was laying on the floor and picked it up. Snapping it back into place the seams magically filled in ad the eye sockets became animated with his magic. Sans looked at himself again.

Good old Sans the skeleton was staring back.

He hoped that would make Papyrus more comfortable when he finally got home.

With that fixed Sans went down and sat by the front door.

He needed to apologize to his brother.

He just had to wait for him to come home.

* * * * *

Sans spent his days sitting by the door waiting for Papyrus to come home. At night he would walk up the stairs and sleep in his bed hoping Papy would come home the next day.

He didn't eat because he didn't feel hungry. Sometimes a monster would come by and try to talk to him. Maybe leave some food but he would give them all the same responses. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Before he went to bed Sans would grab the food, if someone left some, and deposit it in the kitchen.

Then he would go to bed and start his day all over again.

That was until yesterday.

He had woken up with the intention of starting his daily ritual. Only to find he couldn't muster the energy to get out of bed.

_ Maybe I just need more sleep _ Sans thought to himself.

So he pulled the covers over himself ad gone back to sleep.

_ I'm sure if Papy comes home he will wake me up. _

* * * *

Papyrus wasn't quite sure what he expected to see under the covers. In the back of his mind Papyrus was still  expecting that wide eyed human. The stranger with his brothers voice. However the only thing under the sheet was Sans, his Sans, looking not to good.

* * * *

Sans dozed, for how long he didn't know. It was so strange to feel so sleepy and lethargic. The more he slept the less he wanted to wake up.  He dreamt about a lot of things, his past, his friends, fields of echo flowers and things he didn't understand.

At one point he dreamt about Papyrus, he dreamed his brother had come back. He was sitting in his room with him. Papyrus was talking to him but he couldn't quite make out the words. Sans felt his eyes prickle with tears and he tried to apologize but then the dream changed again and he was spiraling, falling.

Down

Down

It was so dark.

So cold.

* * * * *

"Sans! S-stay awake ok?"  Papyrus said holding the small blue bundle in his arms.

Sans eye sockets were open but they were very dim and the lights weren't quite directed at him.

"Come on b-buddy. It's me Papy. I'm home." His normally measured voice was starting to crack.

That seemed to get Sans attention and the smile that lit up the little guys face broke Papyrus' heart.

"Papy." Sans said voice small and weak.

"Ya 's me.  I need you to get up Sans. Can you get up for me?"

Sans didn't seem to hear him. The "bone" around his eye sockets scrunched up in distress. "I'm sorry Papy I'm sorry."

Papyrus tried to calm Sans down but he just kept apologizing until he passed out again.

If Sans was a normal monster he would start an energy transfer. Could a monster transfer magical energy to a human? Papyrus was panicking, he couldn't take Sans to a doctor. They would give him to the queen and she would take his soul.

Sans soul.

He had to check Sans' stats.

After that he would figure out what to do but he needed to make sure the kid wasn't going to die on him anytime soon.

So he reached out with his magic and felt for Sans core.

It was like looking for a small fish in a large dark pool. Sans’ energy was so depleted finding the fish was hard. When Papyrus felt the magic making up Sans soul he almost overlooked it because it was so similar to his own magic. It was like finding a shard of himself in that dark pool but Papyrus couldn’t think about that. He had to bring the small slightly fluttering soul out of the darkness. 

When he finally tugged the small fragile heart out into the open what he saw made Papyrus feel sick.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the kind words! I'm so happy how suportive this community is! @u@

Papyrus' own soul lurched in phantom pain.

Sans soul was a mess and it looked painful.

A normal monster's soul was white. It would be in the shape of an idealized heart with the round bits pointed down and the pointy bit facing the sky. A human soul (Or so Papyrus had read) was colored brightly. The humans main personality trait would be shown by the color of its soul. Also although human and monster souls shared the same shape a humans would be inverted.

The soul Papyrus held in his hand was neither human nor monster.

It was some kind of frankenstein hodgepodge made of bits and pieces of both monster and human souls. It was like someone had shattered two souls with a hammer then picked the pieces that fit best together and tried to make a new composite soul out of them.

It still maintained the shape of its original human orientation. The human parts were a dull listless cyan the monster bits were traditional white. In some places the souls didn't fit together properly and there were crevices and cracks littering its surface. Papyrus wondered how it was able to hold itself together. By all means Sans should be dust by now, or whatever happend to dead humans. 

Well he would Sans would be gone soon if he didn't do anything to help.

Not knowing how to help a human Papyrus foucoused on the monster half.

If that didn't work he would have to call undyne for help.

Papyrus  needed to focus on his magic to stabilize Sans without killing himself. It would not be easy, even though Papyrus had much more HP than Sans his energy stores were naturally low, where Sans were high.

Two large skeletal hands cupped the little mess of a heart gently as if they was afraid it would break at the slightest touch. When Sans core was safely secured the hands began to glow with a soft orange light.

Papyrus' analytical mind monitored his own magic levels closely. He knew he could go down to about ten present and still maintain his physical form. However his body would pass out at about twenty percent to try and keep that from happening.

"Seventy five-percent..." He mumbled to himself as he cracked an eye socket.

His eye light glowed with the same magic as his hands. The light was pointed directly at the distressed "skeleton" lying in his lap. Sans breathing was still shallow, the "bone" of his forehead was creased in discomfort.

Papyrus increased his output and the light of his magic increased a bit.

"Fifty-percent..."

When he increased his magic he could feel Sans, by degrees, relax into him slightly. That was a good sign. After a few more minutes Sans breathing evened out and his "face" relaxed.

Blackness was starting to creep into the corners of Papyrus' vision at this point but he pushed on regardless.

"Thirty-percent"  His words were starting to slur and his head was drooping. Papyrus would have kept going until he passed out. However at the twenty five-percent point he felt Sans shift in his lap.

Looking down he saw the little guy had moved and appeared to be sleeping soundly. With his face pushed into Papyrus' orange hoodie one arm wrapped lightly around the taller ones waist.

"Sans?"

He just pushed his face further into the warmth of the orange hoodie and mumbled something illegible.

Papyrus let out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding in.

"What'd you say?" Papyrus asked with a smile on his face.

Sans turned his head slightly eyes still closed and repeated "Shhhhhhhhhh Sans is sleeping."

Papyrus' smile only widened in response as Sans snuggled back into his former place. He was actually totally exhausted himself and since It seemed as if Sans wasn't going to die on him anytime soon. Papyrus decided it was time for one of his patented nap breaks.

He let the orange magic fade out of his hands and opened them slowly. The core still looked terrible but the monster bits seemed more white and the human bits shone with a dazzling light that put its earlier dull state to shame.  

Satisfied with his work Papyrus let the soul dissipate once again  letting it return to where it belonged.

Trying not to wake the sleeping "skeleton" Papyrus managed to maneuver them both under Sans sheets. Sans had kept his hold on Papyrus the whole time, when they were both comfortably settled Sans arms were still loosely wrapped around Papyrus midsection.

As the younger of the two lay in bed on the edge of unconsciousness he thought he heard something that made a pit form in his stomach. The next morning he wouldn't be able to tell if it was a dream or not. But it the half memory of it would haunt him for weeks to come.

" 'm sorry papy Please I'm sorry don't be mad."

Papyrus woke up slowly in a cold bed. He hurt all over from the energy transfer but he would do it all over again if It meant keeping Sans alive. Speaking of which...

Papyrus turned his head expecting to see Sans sleeping soundly next to him. When he saw there was no one there Papyrus had a mini heart attack. Had Sans dusted in the night?

No.

Humans didn't dust, even humans with composite souls. Even so Papyrus still pulled the sheets back to inspect the bed. Conferred by the lack of dust Papyrus figured Sans was downstairs making breakfast like every morning.

So the tall skeleton forced himself out of bed. He stood popping his joints for a bit. When he was satisfied that the stiffness was worked out of his body he headed downstairs. It was oddly quiet in the house and when Papyrus stepped into the kitchen he was on high alert once again.

Sans was gone.

When he looked at the clock he guessed why. It was almost noon. Sans had probably left for his sentry duty hours ago. Did Sans leave without trying to wake him up? Papyrus saw Sans boots were gone which confirmed his theory.

That had never happened before.

Papyrus went into the kitchen and saw everything was spotless. On the table sat a plate with a few of Muffets doughnuts on it. Still shaken after last night he went to go check the fridge. He saw some of the casserole had been eaten. When he looked in the sink a fresh dish was soaking along with a pan.

Sans had eaten, that was good. Lunch break was one o' clock. Papyrus would wait for Sans to come home for lunch then he could apologise for being a jerk. Having Sans almost die on him had shown Papyrus how much he needed that little ball of joy. He still shied away from calling Sans brother, even in his head, but this had shown him that he could eventually forgive Sans. Maybe they would never quite be brothers again but friends seamed like a possibaliaty. 

He was still mad deep down though, that Sans had lied to him and then almost killed himself, but the guilt and worry overwhelmed all of those negative emotions. Whatever had happened to Sans to bring him here must have been bad. His soul and one HP was proof enough of that.

Papyrus took a bite of doughnut, when Sans got home they would talk and Papyrus would listen.

* * * *

Sans sat at his post head in his hands.

Earlier this morning Bartty and Cattie had come by to check on him and make sure everything was ok. That told Sans that Papyrus hadn't spread the news about him being a human. Even though his broken soul couldn't be used to break the barrier, the hurt monsters felt towards humans was still fresh Honestly? Sans couldn’t blame them one bit. Humans were the worst.

Not all humans were bad, he was a testament to that, but in Sans' short life on the surface he had never met one nice human, not one. To this day he didn't know if he was an anomaly or if there were actually pockets of good humans scattered about.

A heavy sigh left Sans mouth.

Thinking about the surface was useless, Thinking about humans was pointless. So why couldn't he stop?

**Did you break another dish!?**

He was safe in the underground.

**Stop crying like a baby I thought I had a son not a daughter.**

No one was going to hurt him.

**I’m going to call your parents if you keep telling lies.**

Things were different down here.

**If you don't stop crying I won't take you to the hospital.**

Monsters were nice.

**If you ever tell your teachers anything like that again i’ll kill you.**

He had friends.

**I hate you**

A life.

**I wish you were dead.**

Why couldn't he just forget...

* * * * *

Papyrus was done waiting and he was getting annoyed.

Was Sans avoiding him?

The clock on there wall read 2:00 Sans was never this late for lunch. Sure sometimes he would be a little late because he had stopped to talk to someone on his way home. However he was never this late.

The energy transfer should have made his brother good as new. Sans soul wasn't normal though. If he had pushed himself and gotten hurt...

Papyrus slipped his shoes on at the door. He supposed this must have been karma for worrying Sans. Whatever higher power was at work here must have been a total asshole. Before he opened the front door he gave his ceiling the double bird.

Then he made his way to his brothers sentry station.

* * * * *

Sans had to pull himself together he couldn’t go home to Papyrus like this. He had already caused enough trouble for him already.  The least he could do was be happy and normal for him.

Sans sat huddled under his sentry station hugging his legs. If someone passed by they would think he was out patrolling the forest. His breathing was shaky and shallow. He was on the verge of tears but was holding them off valiantly.

This would happen sometimes. He would get strange moments extreme emotion. It was usually ok, being eccentric was one of his things, if he was overly happy or frustrated or even scared it was just his eccentric personality at work. It was the moments of extreme random sadness that were the hardest to handle.

It usually hit after a long boring day of thinking alone in the woods. He didn't know if it was the isolation or the monotony but sometimes he would just get sad. On his off days Sans would take a few extra minutes to compose himself before heading home. Papyrus didn't have to deal with that. When he did finally see his brother Papyrus would be enough to distract him from his bad thoughts.

Today was different though. Even though he knew what this was he couldn't stop it. He just kept thinking about how much Papyrus must hate him. How disappointed he must be.

If Sans came home and Papyrus was gone...

Could he do it? Could he live his life with a brother that hated him? Papyrus had been the biggest part of his life and the idea of that suddenly being ripped away from him. It was too much. How could he ever face something like that?

It would be easier to just lay in the dirt under his station forever.

Sans knew he should get up and go home. He needed to face whatever was waiting for him. He needed to be strong.

The fact that he just kept laying there despite these thoughts filled Sans with a familiar feeling of self hate. He couldn't do anything right.

Maybe he just needed a few more minutes to get himself under control.

Then he would go home.

Just a few more minutes....

* * * *

As Papyrus made his way to Sans station it seemed like everyone and their mother greeted him on the street and asked about Sans.

Yes he was ok. Yes they had made up. Everything was fine. Etcetera .Etcetera .

This situation was a little to complicated to explain to everyone. To be honest he didn't even think Sans would want everyone to know. This was way to personal so Papyrus kept to his story.

They had a spat, they made up, everything was fine.

Finally he made it to Snowdin forest.

Most of the guards were at lunch so he just walked straight to Sans station without further interruption.

When he got there though it was empty. Sans was nowhere to be seen. Papyrus stood in the snow wondering what to do next when he heard something by Sans station.

He walked over as quietly as he could to see what it was. Nothing jumped out at him when he got there though. It was just Sans station looking as perfect and clean as ever. Papyrus was about to leave when he heard the noise again from under the desk.

As he bent down to investigate a familiar face popped out from beneath the desk.

Sans looked shocked to see Papyrus (If not a little frightened?) those were quickly buried under Sans familiar happy face.

"Papy! What are you doing here!?" he asked trying to wiggle out of the small space with some semblance of grace. He failed and Papyrus had to grab him under the arms to help him out.

"I was just checking on you. It's way past lunch time and you never came home. What were ya doing under there anyways?""

Sans looked really guilty then. He looked at the floor and rubbed his hands together.

"I was looking for something I dropped." He lied badly.

"For ten minutes?"

Sans just looked even more guilty and said "yes."

Papyrus shook his head in amazement "You know you're a really bad liar." He took out a smoke and lit it then finished his statement. " About some things."

Sans looked really crushed then and Papyrus mentally cursed himself. He hadn't come out here to chastise his brother. He had come out here to get Sans to come home and he was already doing a shitty job of it.

"Listen Sans I think it's time we had a talk."

"Yes, of course." Sans said still looking nervous.

Papyrus took another drag of his cigarette to calm his nerves.

"Listen Sans I'm not mad."  _ I am kind of mad _  "I want to hear your side of the story."  _ About why you lied to me all my life  _ "Do you think you can do that for me?"

Sans nodded his head and then spoke in a small voice. "Yes I can do that Papy."

"Cool." He said and the nonchalant offhandedness of the statement clearly caught Sans of guard.

Papyrus just raised an eye ridge "Maybe we can talk somewhere a little more private?"

Even though they were in the middle of the woods you never knew who might be listening.

"Sure!" Sans said taking a shaky step forward.

Papyrus watched as the little guy took a few more shaky uncertain steps.

"You ok there?" He asked

"Of courses" Sans said taking another shaky step "I must have just been sitting down for too long my legs are a little weak."

Papyrus just sighed and dropped the burning but of his cigarette in the snow. "You're probably still weak after last night."

Sans looked up at him clearly confused "What happened last night?"

Shaking his head he reached down to pick Sans up. He had always wondered why Sans had felt so fleshy. Sans had told him it was magic when he had asked as a child and Papyrus never questioned him again. Looking back it was sickeningly obvious.

Sans tried to wiggle out of the bigger ones grasp "Papy I can walk!"

"Ya and at that pace we will get  home by tomorrow morning."

Sans stopped struggling.

"We have a lot to talk about." Papyrus said walking quickly towards their house.

Sans just hid his face in Papyrus' shoulder and mumbled "I know"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm re-reading this and I forgot how much I want to protect Sans! I just want him to be happy! TnT

Papyrus only set Sans down when they were safely in their house. Despite Sans objections Papyrus insisted that he eat something before they get started. It didn't take much to get the little guy to agree. So as Sans went to go get some lunch, Papyrus went to his room.

He needed to get his head together. When he got into his room he skillfully maneuvered his messy floor and collapsed on his mattress. He needed to decide what he wanted to know. That was easy, everything. The real question was what questions to ask and In what order.

* * * *

After Sans was done with his lunch he sat on the sofa and waited.

It wasn't easy to just sit there while he was so on edge. He just wanted this to be over with and at the same time he wanted to just hide himself away. Sans just kept telling himself it was for Papyrus. He would do anything for his brother. If Papyrus wanted to know everything he would tell him everything. If Papyrus wanted to see everything he would show him everything. It was the least he could do after putting him through so much.

So Sans waited.

When he heard his brother's bedroom door open upstairs Sans had the sudden urge to run. He needed to get away. He couldn't do this. The guilt in his gut made him want to stay though. His emotions were pulling him in two directions and he had no idea which was the right one. Sans had gotten so caught up in his spiraling thoughts he didn't hear Papyrus come down the stairs.

"Ok, Sans are you ready?" Papyrus asked approaching the couch.

Sans jolted a bit as he was pulled back to the present. He wanted to tell Papyrus "No" he wasn't ready. Sans doubted he ever would be.  He had made a promise though and he intended to keep it. So instead of saying no like he wanted to he opened his mouth and said.

"Yes."

Keeping eye contact with the floor Sans didn't risk a peek until he felt the couch dip. Then he snuck a side look at Papyrus. It was a real relief to see that Papyrus looked almost as nervous as he  felt.

His brother took a moment to adjust himself so his body was half facing Sans. Then he just sat there as if trying to decide what he wanted to say.

Sans didn't say anything. This was for Papyrus. He would let him do this at his pace.

"So..." Papyrus started "You're a human?"

Sans inwardly cringed at the use of the word but nodded and said "Yes."

Papyrus nodded "I guess the first big question I have is how'd you end up down here?"

Sans nodded again that was a fair question.

"Well I fell, like anyone else." Sans started off stating the obvious. Of course Papyrus deserved more than just the obvious so he continued. "When I was just a baby I lived with my mom."

Papyrus seamed started by this change of topic but he didn't speak up.

"My dad had run off or something and it was just the two of us. I don't really remember her because I was so young..."

Sans took in a deep breath to steady himself.

"She died when I was two. I was sent to live with my uncle but that didn't last long. He wasn't equipped to deal with a child. He was always too quick to discipline and his rules were too strict for a little kid. So he sent me away to live with another relative after a year. He sent me live with his cousin. The cousin wasn't very nice."

Sans grip on his knees tightened.

"Sometimes I would do something to make him mad and he would hit me. After he hurt me he would always apologise and tell me it would never happen again. Sometimes he would even buy me presents to make it up too me. I was so stupid. I would always believe him. Every time he would apologise he would sound so sincere and I would think "That was it. He is going to change." But he never did."

Sans felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. When he looked up he saw Papyrus had moved closer so he was sitting right next to him. Papyrus looked mortified but Sans had already started and he couldn't leave his story half told.

"One day he pushed me into our glass coffee table. He was mad at first that I broke the table but when he saw how bad I was hurt he stopped. I got all cut up but he wouldn't take me to see a doctor. I could tell he was afraid he would get into trouble. He picked out the glass while crying and apologizing. I forgave him but after a couple of days it was clear a few of the bigger cuts needed stitches. So he took me to the doctors and told them I hurt myself playing. He had taken me to the hospital a few times before for broken bones and stuff. I think the doctors knew what was going on at that point because I didn't have to go home with him."

Sans had to take a moment before he could continue with the story. Papyrus moved his arm so it was draped over Sans shoulder in a comforting manner. Sans leaned into his side and when he felt better he continued.

"That was when I was five. I was then sent to live with my mother's sister. The two of them didn't get along but my aunt was the only family left so I was sent to live with her. She never hurt me. At first I was glad but then I noticed she also never loved me. She would give me clothes to wear, a roof over my head, there was always food in the fridge for me to eat but she never cooked for me, she never washed my clothes, and she didn’t really touch me. She wouldn't even really talk to me. A month in she told me it was because she didn't like me. I was a burden to her.

She never supervised me when I went out to play. One day, when I was eleven, I decided I was going to go climb Mt. Ebott. I had heard the rumors about it and I wanted to see if they were true. I packed a bag with a blanket and some snacks. I also grabbed some change from the kitchen counter. Then I set off.

I had seen people take the bus on TV so I figured it would be the best way to get to the mountain. We lived close to the bus station so I walked over and a nice bus driver helped me count out my change and get on the right bus. When he asked me why I wanted to go there I said a friend of mine was going to meet me there and we were going to have a picnic.

I remember getting off the bus at the foot of the mountain but after that everything gets a bit fuzzy. I must have climbed up and fallen in a hole or something because I was found in Hotland. I was busted up really badly from the fall and my soul was on the verge of shattering. All those years of abuse had done a number on my Hope Points and I was about ready to die. They brought me to the royal scientist to try and save my soul so it could be used to break the barrier."

"You remember dad right?" Sans asked suddenly.

"Ya." Papyrus said sadly.

"Remember how he use to always rant about how he made you?"

Papyrus smiled at that. "Ya, He was to much of a nerd to get a date so he had to clone a kid."

Sans nodded. "It takes awhile to grow a soul from scratch. When they brought me in my soul was already fractured and dying. He was working on his clone project at the time and had two monster souls growing in the back of the labs. He decided the only way to save me was to sacrifice one of the two souls to patch mine up.

When it was all done I was alive. I have no idea how it worked. He tried to explain it to me a few times but it just went over my head. However, even though he had saved my soul it could no longer be used to break the barrier because it was no longer fully human. The queen was not happy with that but when dad asked if he could keep me the queen allowed it. She always did have a soft spot for kids.” a fond smile spread across his face

“So that how I woke up. In a hospital room in a strange place surrounded by monsters. I was a mess at first but dad didn't give up on me. I lived in the labs with him and the only monsters who knew I was there were the royal scientist, his team, my therapist, and the queen. I was kept under cover for the first year but you know how kids are. It's not good to keep them cooped up. So dad made me this special mask."

Sans gestured to his head.

"He made it look like a skeleton so he could say I was his son. Dad started taking me out with him when he ran errands. Even though I was painfully shy all the monsters I met were super nice. When I was fourteen his cloning project finally bared fruit. One day I was playing some videogames in the living room with one of the lab techs when dad kicks in the door. He walks into the room all all happy and introduces me to my new baby brother."

Sans looked up at Papyrus stars in his eyes.

"That was you! Dad and my therapist didn't know how I would react to having a brother. They had been preparing me for a few months but I don't think they were expecting it to be the best thing that ever happened to me. After you started living with us I just got better and better. Just having you around helped with my recovery process so much.

I started going out more and meeting new monsters. When I was sixteen and you were two dad moved us into an apartment so we could have more social interactions. At that point I wore my costume almost all the time anyways and almost never took it off. So dad wasn't worried about me being found out. We lived there until I was eighteen. That's when dad got into his accident and died."

Papyrus nodded he knew the story pretty well from this point on but let

sans finish up anyways.

"It would have been really easy to fall back into my old habits but having you to take care of really kept me going. You always kept me so busy. I wanted to make sure that you had the best childhood possible. Sometimes it was hard but overall, with the help of a lot of nice monsters, I think you ended up ok."

Sans looked up at Papyrus again and scrunched up his face. "Well aside from the whole never picks up your sock thing."

That made the Papyrus smile. It might have made him laugh on any other day but after that heavy story he was still trying to process everything.

"Wow." was all he managed to say after a few minutes of silence. "uhhh.... you pretty much answered most of my questions with that story." He finished, rubbing the back of his skull idaly.

The smaller of the two was just stared at his feet. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Yea." Papyrus respond removing the arm that was still slung around Sans shoulders. He stood up and stretched before he turned around and looked Sans strength in the eye.

"Can I see what you look like without the costume?"

 

_ No, it was not ok. _

Sans wanted to just say no but he knew he couldn't. He had already told him his whole life story what was some visual confirmation? Sans tried to tell himself it was nothing. However it really was everything.

Would Papyrus hate him?

Would Papyrus be repulsed by him?

Probably...

"Hey..." two hands fell on Sans shoulders. He looked up too see his brother looking determined but not in a bad way. "If you don't want to you don't have too, at least not today."

Sans was on the verge of tears. He didn't want to do this. He just wanted to take up Papyrus on his offer. Deep down though Sans knew if he put it off he would never do it. How could Papyrus ever forgive Sans if he was still keeping secrets?

"No, its ok. Lets just do it."

Papyrus looked unsure and griped Sans shoulders a bit more firmly.

"Sans, it's really okay. We can wait if you need more time."

"No, really it’s fine." Sans took Papyrus' hands and gently removed them from his shoulders.

Papyrus took the hint and gave Sans room to stand.

"Just.... give me some time to get ready. I'll call you when I'm done."

With that Sans went upstairs leaving his brother in the living room.

* * * * *

Papyrus didn't know how to feel.

Sick?

Sick was a good word for it.

If Sans story was true , and papyrus didn't doubt it was, he had been through hell. The thought of anyone hurting the person that had raised and loved him his whole life... Rage was to kind a word.

Even though he felt these things everything still had an almost fake feel to it.

To solidify everything he needed to see the person he had called "brother" for what he really was. Papyrus was willing to wait for Sans to feel comfortable. It was painfully clear Sans didn't want to do this right now. But if Sans was determined to do this, despite his discomfort, there was nothing Papyrus could do to persuade him otherwise.

Papyrus didn't have long to wait.

There were footsteps upstairs and then a familiar voice drifted down from upstairs.

"Ready."

Then the door closed again. Papyrus heard quick footsteps and the thump of sans sitting on his bed.

Papyrus took a deep breath to steady his nerves before he mounted the stars.

He could do this.

No matter what awaited him in that room Papyrus decided  he would be supportive. After everything Sans had been through in his life and everything he had done to make sure papyrus was happy it was the least the tall skeleton could do.

Papyrus tried to go about this with Sans feelings in mind. So when he reached the bedroom door he knocked. Even though Sans had given him permission earlier he didn't want to spook him by coming in unannounced.

"I'm coming in."

There was no response so Papyrus just opened the door and stepped in.

The first thing he noticed was that Sans had covered his mirror with a sheet. That was weird. The second thing he noticed was that there was a little dark skinned human sitting on Sans bed. He was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts and his eyes were covered with his hands. Next to him on the bed was a neatly folded pile of clothes with a skull placed on top.

Papyrus still associated that skull with his brother. So to see it just sitting there on the bed not attached to anything was really creepy. The uneasiness he felt towards that skull was overridden by his fascination though.

He had never seen a human before outside of magazines and books he had found at the dump. All the humans in the magazines were tall, skinny, with perfect hair. Sans was none of that and somehow it fit.

The short chubby human that sat in front of him was adorable. That was the only word he could use. He had little tummy rolls and the thick black hair that grew on his head was just a little too long too look trim and tidy.

Papyrus took a few steps closer to get a better look. When Sans heard him he flinched a bit but other then that made no move. With Sans' arms raised he could see a ton of small scars running the length of his arms along with a couple of small round burns. The thing that made Papyrus' metaphorical skin crawl was a large scar on Sans chest that ran from just under his left nipple all the way down to his belly button.

Papyrus remembered Sans story and if that scar was from the table incident...

How could anyone let something like that go untreated?! It hurt his heart to think about it so he stopped. Instead focusing on Sans stomach. Papyrus reached out a hand without thinking. It was just so tempting. He had never felt skin before and his tummy looked so soft.

He placed his hand on Sans stomach while applying light pressure.

The reaction was almost instantaneous. Sans let out a squeak and the hands that were covering his face flew down to push Papyrus' hands away. When he spoke his voice was filled with poorly contained laughter.

"Papy noooo!"

Papyrus looked up into Sans face and wow .

How could he have ever thought his brother was expensive before ?

The human's eyes were closed but the soft malleable skin on either side was creased with laughter. His mouth was turned up into a half smile and when he spoke his mouth actually moved. It was weird to hear Sans voice coming out of this foreign body but it was getting less and less so as he saw the human trying to push his hands away.

Even if the body was different Sans mannerisms and movements were the same.

"Ticklish?" papyrus asked gently poking Sans midsection.

The small humans eyes shot opened and he let out another squeak. Sans tried to cover his outburst with a pout but the damage was done.

"I'm not ticklish!" Sans exclaimed.

But Papyrus already had an evil smile on his face.

"So this." Papyrus said attacking the older ones stomach " 'snot doing anything for ya?"

Sans tried valiantly to keep a straight face. It didn't last long though and soon Papyrus had him flailing on the bed laughing and trying to get away. The fun didn't last though because in the tussle one of the brothers accidentally knocked Sans mask onto the floor.

The sound of it brought both of their attentions back to the present.

"Shoot sorry." Papyrus said even though he had no idea if he was the one who had knocked it over.

When Sans saw part of his costume on the floor he appeared to get more self conscious all of a sudden. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked away.

"It's okay." he replied.

Papyrus marveled at how easy it was to read Sans without the stiff skeleton costume getting in the way. Speaking of which...

Leaning off the bed Papyrus managed to grab the mask off the floor. He then readjusted himself with Sans fake head on his lap. Without it's owner it was just an empty shell. It looked like a normal skull had been taken off a skeleton somehow without turning it to dust. Flipping it upside down he examined the neck hole. It was way to small to fit a head though. There were no visible seams to the thing either.

"How the hell does this thing work?"

Two small hands took the "skull” from him.

"Dad made it for me." he said raising the fake skull until it was pressed against his cheek half balanced on his shoulder. His blue eyes flared a bright cyan for a moment and animation slowly leaked into the masks face.

It was kind of creepy.

"It runs of my magic." Sans explained as the mask mimicked his movements. "It copys my face the best it can without a mouth. However it can also do some really cool tricks!" Sans magic flared again and the skull got two very familiar star shapes in its pupils.

"How do you get it on?" Papyrus asked honestly puzzled.

"The mask runs off my magic so if I want to wear it the mask accommodates." Sans lowered the mask to his lap, breaking the connection to his face so the mask became doll like one again, then he ran his hand around the side of the head. Where his hand touched a line seamed to form. When the line was halfway around the skull the whole thing hinged open.

"That's so fuckin' cool" Papyrus said reaching for the open skull to get a better look. Sans slapped his hand away before he could get to close.

"Language!"

Papyrus just laughed "Sorry,  freakin' cool. Can I see it again?"

"Sure." Sans said handing it over.

Papyrus noticed that the more they talked and just acted normal the more Sabs seemed to relax. He still looked a little like a fish out of water but the fear that had laced his movements early on was gone.

He spent a few minutes turning the skull over in his hands. He messed with it a lot because it was honestly the coolest.

Papyrus was interrupted when Sans spoke up in an uncertain voice.

"So are you still mad?"

He looked up to see Sans on the verge of tears.

"I'm sorry for lying!" he said as a few tears leaked out the corners of his eyes. "I'm really really sorry! Please come home! I'm sorry!"

It was like a dam breaking and it looked like all of Sans pent up sadness rushed out at  once. He was sobbing and holding himself head lowered.

Not wanting to see Sans sad Papyrus immediately leaned over and gave Sans a big hug. feeling this Sans returned the hug with vigor. The small one just kept repeating I'm sorry's and Papyrus monoverd Sans until he was sitting in his lap.

Not wanting to get his fragile finger bones tangled in Sans unruly black hair Papyrus had to settle with nuzzling his face into the mess. He hoped it was a comforting gesture and after some crying Sans calmed down enough for Papyrus to talk.

"I'm not mad anymore Sans. I’m a little sad you kept this from me for so long but i’m not mad. I promise I won't leave you alone again either. At least not without some warning."

"So do you hate me?" Sans asked in a watery voice.

"what? No, I don't hate you!"

Sans flinched away from his forceful tone and Papyrus inwardly cursed himself.

"I don't hate you Sans. How could I ever hate you?" Papyrus said much more gently this time.

"B-because I lied to you! I'm a human and humans are b-bad and u- ugly!"

"Sans" Papyrus said "you are not ugly. Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror? You look like a good dam puppy!"

Sans just shook his head.

"Listen if you really think you are ugly I know there's probably nothing I can say to change your mind. I just want you to know that I think you look like a goddamn puppy dog. 'S honestly a little unsettling. How the hell are humans this cute?"

Sans laughed at that.

"Not all humans look like this." He said still a bit sad "Mostly just kids. When Dad messed with my soul I kind of stopped ageing? Or at least I age very very slowly. Dad could never quite figure that one out. I think right now I have to body of ten year old? It's kind of hard to tell sometimes."

Papyrus' eye sockets widened.

"So are you saying..."

Sans watery eyes looked towards Papyrus.

"that you're a kid !?"

Sans face turned into an annoyed scowl.

"No! I am still older than you!"

Papyrus had that mischievous smile on his face again.

"Nope, you are a child and I must care for you."

Sans tried to get out of papyrus grasp but to no avail.

"You have to go to bed by six and I expect you to eat all your greens at dinner." Papyrus said mimicking Sans moma bird voce.

"Papy! you are the one that does not eat his vegetables! I love vegetables!"

Papyrus finally let the squirming human go with a chuckle.

"Okay, you win Sans." Papyrus put his hands into his pockets "I couldn't be the older brother anyways. I have no self control."

A big smile shone on Sans face.

"So we can be brothers again?" he asked hopefully.

Papyrus' smile died a bit on his face.

"Maybe, after some time. This's just all a bit sudden. I think I still need some time to adjust."

Sans smille also fell but he nodded his head regardless.

"I understand."

Papyrus was grateful. Although he did forgive Sans the hurt was still there. He wondered if it would ever go away. Would he ever be able to refer to Sans as 'bro' again.

That was a question for another day.

Right now he was feeling a bit hungry.

"I think I'm gonna make us some dinner."

looking up at papyrus Sans had an uncertain look on his face.

"You? Making food? Are you sure Papy remember what happened last time?"

"Hey, I'm just going to make a couple of sandwiches. You can't burn the house down making sandwiches." He said getting up from the bed.

"That's what you said about the popcorn!"

Papyrus was at the door but he turned around to give Sans a wink.

"I promise not to touch anything that uses heat. Now put on some pants and come down when you're ready."

Sans nodded and Papyrus headed to the kitchen to make some food.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nice evening at home
> 
> then later someone gets hurt

 

Papyrus waited a few days before he brought up Sans self destructive behavior. He informed Sans of how close to death he had actually come. Sans was shocked and promised to take better care of himself.

Sans still seemed a bit more lethargic than normal and Papyrus was keeping an eye on it. Clearly Sans didn't know his body's limits and Papyrus was dead set on making sure Sans never got to the point he was at again.

Everything else seemed to go back to normal though. Sans didn't really take off his costume and if Papyrus wasn't so painfully aware of what had transpired he might be tempted to think it had all been a dream.

Papyrus was pondering this one day after dinner. Usually he would go to his room after a meal but today he was so caught up in his thoughts he just sat there as Sans gathered up the dirty dishes.

The taller of the two watched as Sans pulled out his plastic gloves. He slipped them over his blue ones then turned on the sink to start washing. Something about this struck him as odd. It took some time before Papyrus realized what it was.

"Hey, Sans?"

The other made a little hum to acknowledge the question.

"Why're you using rubber gloves?"

"So I don't get my blue gloves wet! Isn't that obvious silly?"

"Well I mean wouldn't it just be easier to take the blue gloves off?"

Sans went still at the sink. He seemed to seriously consider the question.

"Well, maybe..."

Now that he was thinking about it Papyrus started to question a lot of things.

"And on another note wouldn't it be easier for you to eat without that mask on? I understand you still need to keep the whole human thing a secret in public but we're home right now. You don't have to hide behind closed doors do you?"

* * * *

As his brother spoke Sans put the dish he had been scrubbing back in the sink.

Papyrus was right.

Of course he was right. Papyrus knew, Papyrus knew and didn't hate him.

So why was he still hiding? Sans had thought about taking his mask off last night at dinner. It would be simpler to eat without it in the way. He wanted to take it off so bad but his nerves had failed him in the end. He just felt naked without it plain and simple.

"Doesn't it make you uncomfortable?" Sans asked instead of answering his brothers question.

"Nah" Papyrus said getting out of chair. "I'm more worried about you. Does it make you uncomfortable?"

Sans thought about lying but decided against it. "A little."

"Then keep it on." his brother said heading to the living room "Better hurry with those dishes if you want to watch a movie with me before bed."

Sans did hurry, he didn't want to miss movie night!

When he was done he pulled off the rubber gloves in a hurry, in the process of pulling them off his blue gloves came off as well.

Sans was about to hurriedly put his blue gloves back on when he stopped.

He didn't have to hide anymore. Papyrus didn't think he was gross and didn't hate him.

Sans ran his hand along the cool metal of the sink. Sometimes he forgot how muted the world was with all those layers. How nice it was to feel things again and without the worry of being found out.

Sans still didn't want to take off his mask. It was too soon for that... but maybe he could go without his gloves. For tonight...

* * * * *

Papyrus had the movie ready and he was now lounging on their sofa waiting for Sans to come and join him.

He was just about to call out when Sans made his appearance. He looked nervous and was rubbing his hands together. His ungloved hands.

Papyrus smiled and patted the seat next to him.

Sans obliged and they started the movie with no mention of his brothers missing apparel.

Baby steps Papyrus thought to himself as the movie played in the background baby steps.

****

I was the next morning when shit hit the fan.

***

Bad things always happen in threes.

The thought drifted through Sans head attached to nothing as he stared down at the blood soaked snow in front of him. His eyes darted from the mess to its source.

His arm had a huge gash in it.

That's not good Sans though still not quite putting two and two together.

He watched as big red drops of blood fell onto the snow in front of him and suddenly Sans felt like he was going to be sick. He tried valiantly not to throw up and succeeded only when he looked away into the tree line.

It didn't hurt now but it would. Sans knew he was in shock and he needed help.

Sans went to go grab his phone only to realize at some point he had fallen to his knees. His shaking hand reached into his pocket. The phone fell out of his hand into the snow.

Dang He reached for it again and managed to get the phone to his head. If the person he was trying to call wasn't on speed dial he would have been in trouble.

It rang a few times before his brother answered.

" 'sup?" Said a sleep ridden voice from the other end.

"I think I need help." Sans said as a dull throb started to come from his mangled left arm.

* * * * *

Something in Sans voice set off alarm bells. It sounded odd, almost detached.

"Where are you?" Papyrus asked suddenly all business.

There was a pause and some heavy breathing before Sans spoke up again.

"I b-b-by the b-bridge o-outside of town."

Papyrus barely had time to tell Sans to wait there before he was throwing on a hoodie and running out the door. Deciding to save time he blipped to the bridge on the edge of town. In the dim early morning light he could see something on the other side of the bridge near the trees, something bright blue.

Once again he blipped to the other side of the bridge next to Sans who was sitting facing away from him. The smaller of the two was visibly shaking and had his head turned to the side eyes squeezed shut.  Papyrus could see a few spears, rope, and what appeared to be some kind of mace or flail. The wepons were scattered around in the snow.

When he walked around to kneel in front Sans he saw the blood. It was staining his white shirt, he could see it was a deep wound.

"What happened?!" papyrus asked panicked as he dropped down in front of Sans not knowing the first thing about flesh wounds.

"I slipped." Sans said in that slightly detached voice still not looking at his arm. Lucily Sans started his day earlier than most other monsters so there was no one around to see what was happening. It wouldn't stay like that for long though. Papyrus needed to act fast but he was drawing a blank. Panic was seeping into his mind clogging up the gears.

"What do I do?" He said staring at the blood.

"Papyrus don't panic." Sans said. He looked kind of sick himself but was somehow keeping his composure surprisingly well.

"I-I need you to t-tell me how bad it is. I-I can't look-"

"Sure." Papyrus said reaching for the mangled arm. Sans braced himself but still flinched pretty badly when Papyrus' boney fingers prodded at the wound.  As he pulled back the shredded material he could see it was bad. The gashes were deep and the longest was about four inches in length. The blood was still flowing freely and papyrus had to take in a deep shuddering breath.

"That b-bad?" Sans asked meekly.

"I think this needs a bit more than a little healing magic... I think you might need to see a doctor." Papyrus couldn't lie, this situation was bad. Who in the underground could possibly help. Who would be willing to help?

"Papy I need you to do me a f-favor." Sans said weakly.

"Anything."

"Get my phone and call Undyne. Tell h-her she was right a-about the file. Then tell her about m-my arm. She'll tell you w-what to do."

Papyrus was confused but didn't have time to think. Sans was holding his phone out and Papyrus took it.

"Let’s h-hurry this is starting to hurt." Sans said with a weak uneasy laugh.

Papyrus quickly pulled up Undyne's number and hit the call button.

It only rang twice before a surprisingly alert voice answered. Undyne was probably the only monster in the Underground that had a worse sleep schedule then himself.

"Sans?"

"No this is Papyrus." He couldn't quite keep the shaking out of his voice.

"What's wrong?" She asked sounding concerned.

"Shit, he's hurt. He's hurt bad I don't know what to do. I need help. Oh god what do I do."

"Papyrus." Undyne said sternly "Hang up the phone and call a doctor, a medical doctor."

"I can't." Papyrus said distraught.

He felt a tug on his sleeve and looked over to see Sans grabbing his arm. "The f-file." Sans said in a small voice eye lights small and dim.

"Sans said something about a file!" Papyrus said urgently "He said you were right and you would help!"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. For a moment Papyrus was afraid that the call had dropped.

"Undyne are you still there?"

"I was right?" He heard her say in wonder filled tone.

"Yes!" Papyrus almost yelled into the phone "Whatever it is you were right! Now can you help me or-"

"Yes!" Undyne said eagerly . "What do you need?"

Papyrus let a little of his tension drain from his body. Undyne was going to help. Everything was going to be okay.

"He..." Papyrus took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "He hurt his arm- cut it really bad. I think it was cut with a spear or something. What do I do."

"First you need to get some cloth and apply steady pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding."

Papyrus pushed all the questions out of his mind for the moment. Sans needed help. He could ask what the hell was going on later.

"Okay." Papyrus said into the receiver as he turned back to Sans. The little guy was now laying in the  snow breathing heavily. The amount of blood outside of his body was alarming.

Reaching out Papyrus pulled Sans up so he was sitting in his lap. "Sans I need to use your bandana." The smaller of the two just gave a weak nod and let Papyrus gently remove the article of clothing.

Then Papyrus folded the blue cloth into a square and as gently as he could placed it over the wound. When Sans only let out a soft whimper Papyrus said "Sorry 'bout this." as he pushed down on the cloth. Sans let out a yelp but otherwise stayed quiet. The blue was quickly changing to a dark purple as it soaked up the blood.

"Okay, what’s next?"

"I need you to get Sans to my lab as quickly as possible. I will be able to attend to him better here."

"Okay, I gotta hang up but I'll be there in a sec."

"The front doors unlocked." The scientist said as she hung up the phone.

Papyrus put the phone in his pocket.

"We are going to undynes she said she can help."

Sans just nodded keeping his eyes closed.

"I'm gona take a shortcut so just hold on a sec."

Sans let out another weak laugh "Lazybones." He mumbled as Papyrus picked him up and blinked them over to the lab in Hotland. All while keeping pressure on Sans arm.

True to her word the doors to the lab were open. Papyrus pushed his way in and heard the clatter of things falling to the floor upstairs.

"Undyne?" Papyrus yelled and he was greeted with a yell from where all the clatter was coming from.

"One sec!"

There was a final loud bang and then a tall gangly fish monster in a lab coat came rushing down the overly futuristic moving stairs. She had a bunch of stuff held in her arms that she almost dropped when she saw the two brothers standing in her lab.

They must have made quite the sight, two skeleton monsters, covered in blood. The larger holding the smaller who looked like he was unconscious. That is until he raised uninjured arm and gave a weak half wave.

"Hello, Undyne." Sans said in a wavering voice.

"Oh my gosh!" The fish doctor said half running to a cluttered computer desk. She pushed all of the papers onto the floor and gestured for Sans and Papyrus to come over as she placed various items on the table top.

"Put Sans in the chair." Undyne  told Papyrus as she poured some liquid into a coffe mug that read ‘Bad Bitch’. Then she threw a few needles, tweezers and such into the solution.

Papyrus placed Sans in the chair and Sans managed to sit up on his own. He looked a little unsteady but he was alert enough that neither monster was too worried about him falling off the computer chair.

"Okay, Sans." Undyne said reaching for the injured left arm. "I need to take a look at the damage."

"O-okay." Sans said in a wavering voice as Undyne pulled on a pair of plastic gloves.

Next she went to remove the bloody bandana from Sans arm. It was so tacky with blood that it stuck to his arm and she had to give a small tug to get it to come loose. The flow of blood had become a trickle and Undyne pulled out a p air of scissors to cut away the sleeve surrounding the wound exposing Sans dark fleshy arm.

The scientist only took the briefest of moments to look over his flesh before she grabbed a pair of tweezers out of the solution and a small flashlight.

"Papyrus I need to to hold this for me and illuminate the wound."

Papyrus hesitantly grabbed the flashlight and cringed.

"I don't think I can do that..."

Undyne gave him an angry look.

"You don't have to look! I just need to see what I'm doing! You want my help right?"

Papyrus' response was to click on the small flashlight to point the beam of light on Sans arm.  He only got a quick peek before he looked away but that was enough.

"Sans, I need to make sure there is no foreign material in the wound before I sterilise and stitch you up. this might hurt but I don't have any pain killers to give you." She said in a gentle tone.

"T-that's o-okay. I just want to get this o-over with a-as soon as possible." Sans replied.

"Just tell me if you want me to stop and give you a breather, Okay?"

The little skeleton just nodded his head and braced himself.

Undyne grabbed the tweezers and started to make sure the wound was clean.

Sans only let out the occasional whimper through the process and every time he did Papyrus' heart would drop in sympathy.

Soon Undyne was done and she was pouring some of the clear liquid into the cuts. She had pulled out some bits of fabric from the wound and when she started cleaning out the wounds with the solution Sans started to cry a little bit.

Papyrus kneeled down next to Sans and offered his hand. Sans took it and held it in a death grip.

Two of the smaller cuts Undyne was able to close with something that looked like glue. Undyne said it was called skin glue and was special for skin. Three of the others had to be stapled shut with two to three staples each. The big one though needed thirteen stitches to fully close it up.

Papyrus couldn't believe how well Sans was handling the whole thing. By the end all three present were covered in blood but Sans arm was cleaned up and no longer bleeding. As a very last step she put a large adhesive bandage over the mess to keep it clean.

Once it was all over Sans fell asleep, or passed out, it was hard to tell. Undyne got him to drink some juice before though. So now Papyrus had Sans in his lap again just holding him close.

"He is going to need some major rest after this fiasco." Undyne said putting the used tools into a bowel and strping off her gloves.

"We all are." Papyrus said slouching in his chair.

"So you know about Sans?" Papyrus asked suddenly remembering how calm and unfazed she had been earlier.

Undyne yawned "You could say I had a hunch..."  Undyne looked really tired and Papyrus must not have looked much better because Undyne then said.

"Man you look like shit. I got some beds downstairs you guys could rest in. I got some clothes you can borrow too. We'll talk after a good long nap."

Papyrus really just wanted to take Sans home. However he knew his magic reserves were low after the stressful day and it would just be safer to rest here for a bit.

"Sure," Papyrus finally said "A nap sound fucking great."

"That's the spirit." Undyne said pushing herself off the floor. She headed upstairs and returned with a couple sets of clothes. For Papyrus she had a t shirt with some japanese writing on it that was clearly out of her personal collection and a pair of blue sleep shorts. Undyne and Papyrus were similar sizes so they didn't really have to worry about the fit.

She brought an obnoxious pink oversized t-shirt with an anime character on the front for Sans since his pants were still fairly clean all things considered.

"It's one of Alphys." undyne said as an explanation.

Lucily Alphys and Sans were also similar sizes too.

Papyrus thanked Undyne and headed to the "hidden" elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a lot of things come to light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate summer sales! Why my work decided a week long summer sale was a good idea eludes me... Anyways back to working on my fun stuff! XD

Sans woke up. It was a sluggish and painful affair. He wanted to sleep for another hundred years but something was pulling him awake. 

His arm hurt.

He sluggishly looked down to see a bandage on his exposed arm. He was also wearing a shirt he had never seen before. 

In the dim light he could make out the room he was in. It looked like the Labs. He had spent enough time here in his youth so he would never forget the setup.

_ Oh _ . Sans thought as he remembered yesterday's events.

First he had gone out to start on his amazing and clever bridge trap. It was a bit more brutal than he would have liked but Alphys had helped him with the design. She had a flair for the dramatic so Sans went along with it.

It was going well until he had slipped on a patch of ice. The next thing Sans  knew he was sitting on the ground with his arm shredded. He must have fallen on one of the sharp weapons he had been carrying.

In hindsight Sans probably should have asked for some help with that one.

Now he had put himself into a precarious situation all because he couldn't ask for help with even the simplest of tasks.

Sans sat up in bed. This was not the time to chastise himself for what happened in the past. He had to think about the future. First off Undyne now knew. No hiding behind uncertainties anymore. She had his original file. Dad had never used names in his studies. Sans had been human or subject 100-583.

That being said skeletons were rare in the underground. Finding out there had been one doing your job before you that had disappeared without a trace would have perked Undyne’s interest. The fact he had been a skeleton would have made things easier. If she had Papyrus' file as well finding them would have been simple. All she had to do was find a skeleton of the right age group and that would have been a cakewalk.

Through Papyrus she had tracked the two down not long after she had been appointed royal scientist. She had found Sans when he was at his station assuming he was the younger of the two. Of course he denied everything and played dumb.

Sans didn't know how undyne and Papyrus ended up friends but he was sure it had something to do with her snooping. Not that he particularly cared. it was hard for Papyrus to make friends and Undyne was a very nice monster.

Deep down Sans was afraid he might have ruined his brothers friendship. Undyne seemed like she was okay with Sans being a human and she had helped him but still...

Her job was about doing science to help the Underground and studying the humans. Even though Sans soul could no longer be  used to break the barrier he was still a valuable test subject.

"-ans?"

Startled out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder Sans flinched away before he realized it was his brother.

"Hey, you okay there?" Papyrus asked kneeling next to Sans bed.

"Yes." Sans said as he instinctively pulled the sheets up to cover his exposed arms. "Can we go home?"

Papyrus pulled out his cell phone to check the time " Undyne said she wanted to give you a once over before you head home to make sure everything is okay. She should still be up it's not that late."

Of course she wanted to give him a once over, that was her job.

"I am really tired can we just head home?"

Papyrus seemed to consider but shook his head. "We should at the very least let Undyne know you are okay. Then we could head home is that cool?"

Sans was torn between his compulsive need to be polite and the need to just run home and hide under his bed for awhile. In the end politeness won out. Undyne had been very nice about this whole thing. Saying thank you was the least he could do.

"Yes." Sans said getting out of the bed he had been sitting in. His exposed arms were making him very uncomfortable and thought of undyne seeing him made his breathing pick up. It was irrational, she had already seen his arms, but it was just all too much too quickly.

Sans tugged one of the blankets off the bed and wrapped it around himself like he was cold. It was so long that it dragged behind him on the floor. Papyrus raised an eye ridge but said nothing.  That is until the blanket got tangled around Sans feet about halfway to the elevator and he tripped.

Sans let out a pained gasp as he landed on his bad arm.

In a second Papyrus was by his side.

"Are you okay?" He asked helping Sans untangle himself from the sheets and getting him to his feet.

"I’m fine." Sans said trying to re-wrap the blanket around his arms but Papyrus stopped him halfway through.

"Maybe we should leave it."  Papyrus said gesturing to the sheet.

"I need it, I'm cold." Sans muttered.

He was lying but Papyrus didn't call him out on it. Instead the taller of the two pulled of his orange hoodie and handed it over.

Gratefully Sans pulled the piece of clothing over his head. It was way to big but at least he wasn't going to trip on it.

"Lookin' good." Papyrus said teasingly.

Sans just rolled the lights in his eyes but under the mask he was smiling.

Feeling more secure the two made their way upstairs.

The lab was just a messy as when they had left it. Papers now littered the ground where Undyne had thrown them earlier. At least the blood had been mopped up. Undyne herself was nowhere to be seen. They could however hear her speaking softly upstairs.

"Undyne?" Papyrus called.

A head popped over the railing and immediately the two brothers could see she looked strained.

"Ya, that's them." They heard her say before she went back into her living area.

The call ended soon and she came downstairs. She was trying to smile but it only made her look more exhausted.

"Who was that?" Papyrus asked.

"Alphys." Undyne replied rubbing her arms. "We may have a bit of a problem."

"Is she okay?" Sans was immediately worried about his friend.

"She's fine. The problem is she may have found some traces of a human outside of Snowdin and she might have started a full scale hunt?" Undyne's voice had gotten softer and softer until at the end she was speaking in a barely audible whisper.

"You're phrasing that as a question." Papyrus stated rubbing his forehead in an irritated manner.

"You didn't tell her anything did you?" Sans asked quietly fear lacing his soul.

"No!" Undyne started forcefully but quieted her voice when she saw Sans flinched. "Of course I didn't. She was just really worried when you guys didn't show up for work today. She thought this "human" might have dusted you two. All I told her is that you two were here with me."

Both Sans and Papyrus relaxed at this.

"Maybe we shouldn't head home quite yet..." Papyrus stated looking to Sans for a reaction.Of course staying here was probably smart. They completely avoid the hunt by staying out of sight and out of mind for a little while.

"Maybe..." Sans said playing with the long sleeves of his borrowed hoodie. He was still nervous about Undyne  wanting to study him but Papyrus was here and Papyrus wouldn't let anything bad happen to him, right?

"We could get Grillby's for dinner."

Sans perked up at that. Grillby's was Sans favorite restraint. They never ate there because it was all the way at the other end of Hotland and because Papyrus didn't really like the food. Clearly he was being bribed but you know what? Today had been a rough day. He would gladly take the bribe of his favorite dinner.

"You know me so well." Sans said mimicking his brothers eye wink playfully.

"Maybe I should let you borrow my hoodie more often." Papyrus rubbed the top of Sans head with his hand "you're already acting like a cool guy."

"More like a total nerd." Undyne said getting into it.

"The biggest nerd." San agreed.

"Teaming up on me? I'm hurt." Papyrus replied not looking hurt at all.

"Sure" Undyne said tossing Papyrus a small bag of gold. "Go grab some food nerd."

"Look who's calling the kettle black." Papyrus retorted but he was clearly smiling.

This was good. Sans could deal with this. The thought of being alone with Undyne while Papyrus picked up some dinner didn't make him as nervous as it would have moments ago. He was still uneasy but he didn't think a panic attack or anything would happen. She hadn't even really mentioned the human thing directly yet. Which Sans was extremely grateful for.

As Papyrus left with a wave Sans stood in the lab with Undyne wondering what they would do while they waited for his brother to get back.

As soon as Papyrus left Undyne asked to look at Sans injured arm. He didn't want to show her but Sans knew that she just wanted to make sure everything was okay. As long as it was just his arm he could handle it.  Even if he wished she would wait until Papyrus got back. Undyne however was a very pushy monster so she insisted on doing it as soon as possible.

Sans didn't say much as Undyne lead him up to her living area. The weird and messy area was much more personal and inviting then most of the lab. Posters littered the walls and rows of comics,  manga, and anime lined the many bookshelves of her room.

She had Sans sit in one of her chairs and pull up the obnoxiously long sleeve of his borrowed jacket. Undyne made sure everything was okay and nothing looked infected.

"Well everything looks okay for now." She said rewrapping the arm. "I would say you need to come back in about a week so I can remove those stiches."

Sans gave a weak nod as he readjusted his clothing.

"I was looking over your file and I was wondering if it would be okay if I gave you a quick check up."

Now Sans was really hoping Papyrus would hurry up and get back.

"I would really rather not..." He said averting his eyes.

"How long has it been since you've had a proper check-up?" Undyne asked lips pursed.

"I don't need a check- up I am perfectly healthy!"

"You say that but how can you be sure? There has never been someone like you before! From the file I could see that last time your soul was checked everything was in proper working order. That could change very easily though,"

Sans was looking down at his feet trying to avoid eye contact.

"It's been years Sans..." undyne said softening her voice further then it already was "Have your hope points stayed at 1?"

"Yes, It's not like they could get any lower." Sans tried to joke but it just kind of fell flat.

"Sans.." Undyne said putting a hand on his shoulder . 'Please I just want to make sure you are okay."

"What would I have to do?" He asked hesitantly.

"Well..." Undyne said taping her fingers against her arm. "I would need to check on the health of your soul. Then I would need to look over your overall health. Measure your hight and weight to see how much you've gown. I would like to take some blood but that wouldn't be required."

Okay this was sounding less and less like something he would be comfortable with each word that was coming out of her mouth.  Where the hell was Papyrus? How far away was Grillby's again?

"Would I have to take off my costume?"

"Well, yes I would need to look at your eyes and teeth as well."

Yup, nope this wasn't happening. He was not going along with this. He liked Undyne, he really did, however this was not something he was going to do just to satisfy her curiosity. She could look over her files all day if she wanted to but Sans was now dead set on getting home.

"Could I have some tea first?" Sans asked knowing just how to distract Undye.

"Oh! Yes of course!" The scientist exclaimed as she practically jumped out of her chair. "I just got some echo flower tea from Waterfall!"

"That sounds great." Sans said as Undyne ran down the stairs to go grab the stuff to make her echo flower tea.

That gave Sans his opportunity to bolt.

* * * * *

The trip to Grillby's took a lot longer than he thought it would.

Mostly because the place was full of gossip about the supposed human sighting in Snowdin.

Everyone was excited and spewing information that was totally incorrect. It actually made Papyrus laugh internally because he knew exactly where the rumors had started.

Most of the things he had overheard were completely useless.

"The human had been spotted in Waterfall"

"It had been hurt by a royal guard but got away"

"I heard the human had three eyes and wicked sharp teeth."

"I heard..."

and on, and on, and on.

Most of these monsters wouldn't know a human if it walked up to them and asked for the time. In the piles and piles of useless information there were a few gems though. He learned that Alphys and her guard had searched Snowdin forest and found nothing, not even a body. They were moving onto Waterfall next so they could hopefully search it before night  fell.

Supposedly the queen wanted that soul and was offering a knightship to whoever got it for her. This was bad but not the worst. They had a safe place to stay and none of the dogs they had called out for the hunt lived in Snowdin. They all lived in Hotland or The Capitol.

That meant none of them knew Sans smell and therefore couldn't rat him out.  As long as they stayed in the labs until everything calmed down they would be fine.  Hell they could probably head back to Snowdin tomorrow morning.

When Grillby gave the food to Papyrus' he thanked the flame monster. The polite monster replied that it was no trouble and told him to give Sans a hello for him. The small happy go lucky monster hadn't been by since they moved to Snowdin. At one point Sans had been quite fond of the food and been by at least once a week.

Papyrus told him he would deliver his message and left with a wave. It warmed his heart to see that even after so long the monsters in the area still remembered Sans. He really was amazing and left an impact on almost everyone he managed to befriend.

Blinking right into the middle of Undyne's main lab with a greasy bags of food in his hand Papyrus was shocked to see Undyne's feet sticking out from under her desk. Papyrus made his way to the pair of legs.

"Whatcha doing?" He asked causing Undyne to startle and hit her head on the underside of the metal table. A metallic ding followed by a soft owww made Papyrus chuckel. That was until Undyne came out and he saw the normally dark color of her face a couple of shades paler.

"II" she said stutter slipping into her speech "I w-w-w-w-was l-l-l-l-l-looking-"

Papyrus dropped the bags of food on the table top and put two steading hands on his friend's shoulders. "Undyne deep breaths."

It took a few minutes but ha managed to get her breathing under control and her voice to a point he could understand her.

"I was l-looking for sans." She manage to choke out.

"What do mean looking for." Papyrus responded tensely.

"I c-can't find him!" The doctor wailed.

"Calm down." Papyrus said sternly he was worried too, probably more so than his friend, but they couldn't waste valuable time arguing. They needed to find him before anything happend.

"Where did you see him last?"


	6. Chapter 6

Sans was cold, wet and he just wanted to go home.

In his panic Sans had made his way to Waterfall. For some reason he hadn't run into any other monsters on his way here and for that he was grateful. Now he found himself crouching in the middle of an echo flower field huddled against the dampness that was trying to seep into his core.

He wanted to go home but he couldn't.

He was completely and utterly mortified. How could he do that? Undyne was just trying to help and how had he thanked her? By running away.

This was so stupid!

Why couldn't he just act normal?!

This was so unlike him. He was the amazing wonderful magnificent Sans? He should be out working on puzzles, making tacos, playfully yelling at his brother for being lazy, not sitting in the mud on the verge of tears. Usually he was better at hiding these emotions. Why couldn't he just get this under control like he usually did?

The tension in his shoulders and stomach were starting to make him feel sick.

Papyrus was going to be so mad at him. It had been clear he wanted them to stay. Oh god, right when he thought things were finally getting better between them. Now he had messed everything up again.

* * * * *

Papyrus had blipped back to Snowdin to see if Sans had somehow made his way home while Undyne started on the Hotland end. It probably wasn't good for her to be out in that dry heat but she had her water bottle with her and they both agreed she knew the area better.

If anyone asked Papyrus had lost his wallet and the two were looking for it.

It was the best they could come up with on such short notice. Even though Alphys had clearly left the Snowdin area for the day Papyrus still didn't want to risk Sans being found. He clearly wasn't in the best of places right now. It would be really easy for him to be found out.

It didn't matter his soul was useless for their cause. They would kill first ask questions later.

After he head checked their home, Sans’ puzzles, sentry station and even going all the way to the ruins door he still couldn't find Sans. He had never been out this far before and he doubted Sans could have made it without teleporting powers but he still had to look.

Resting a hand on the large door that blocked off the rest of the Underground Papyrus let out a heavy sigh and turned around blinking back to thier house to check one last time. Still finding nothing he pulled out his phone to call Undyne.

"Find him yet?" Papyrus asked as soon as she picked up.

"No not yet..."

"I've already checked all of Snowdin. 'M heading over to Waterfall."

"If he's hiding out t-there it's going to be hard to find him." Undyne said sounding really worried.

"I know." Papyrus said rubbing the back of his head. Waterfall was a maze of narrow barely lit caverns scattered clumps of tall grass and echo flowers perfect hiding places. Hopefully that would mean Alphys wouldn't stumble across Sans right now. However that also meant the two frantic monsters may miss him.

"I'm heading that way now." Undyne said knowing that she was much better suited to searching in the wet environment.

"Ya, we'll meet in the middle." Papyrus responded before hanging up.

This just got a lot more difficult.

* * * *

Okay it had been awhile, Sans leg's were stuff from crouching. He was cold and tired and now that his little breakdown was over he... well didn't feel better. But the numb feeling that always followed his really bad moments helped him at least think a bit more rationally.

He needed to go home.

Really he should head back to Hotland. The idea of facing Undyne made a small jab of panic break through his drained calm. No, home, he would go home. He just wanted to sleep in his own bed for a change. Wearing his own clothes under his warm familiar sheets....

A shiver ran through his frame.

Even though he would have to trudge through the cold winter that was Snowdin to get home. It was better than nothing. Maybe he would even catch a ride with the river person. He hadn't run far into Waterfall. If he could make it a couple more miles he would definitely reach the river person's boat.

That sounded like a plan.

So Sans moved his aching legs and started in the direction of home.

* * * * *

"Fuck!" Papyrus said to no one in particular.

He had passed that ice cream cats cave, that shy pink ghosts house, and he was almost at that junk shop. He hadn't seen anyone on his way through Waterfall. Probably because people were still being cautious just in case the human was around.

He didn't know if that made things easier or harder really.

Papyrus was almost at the midway point and soon he would meet up with Undyne. If neither had found Sans yet they would have to start looking inro really weird places. Like at the dump. He hoped Sans handen’t hidden there that place was a maze.

He kicked a stone that lay near his feet. He felt really bad. Sans had asked to go home and Papyrus had brushed him off. He wanted to be mad at Undyne for pushing Sas past his limits but he just couldn't. Papyrus knew his friend well, he should have foreseen this. With Undyne being so panicked and willing to help the rage in his soul had died almost immediately. It was his unchecked anger that got everyone to this point.

Almost to the river person's dock Papyrus raised his head. He was about to start looking around for Undyne when he gave a courtesy glance down towards the docs.

What he saw froze him in his tracks.

It was Sans, he would recognize that orange hoodie anywhere. He was sitting by the water edge clearly waiting for the boat to arrive. He was struck motionless for a moment just looking.  
"Sans!" Papyrus family yelled relieved as he made his way over to the small sitting form.  
Sans heard his name called but didn't turn around.

He just sat there hoping whoever it was would take the hint and move on. He didn't have the mental, emotional, or physical strength to talk to anyone at the moment. he just wanted to go home get cleaned up and take a nap that could rival his brothers.

Staring at the dark surface of the water Sans deliberately didn't move when he heard footsteps behind him approaching hesitantly.

"You okay there buddy?"

Dammit he knew that voice.

* * * * *

"I'm going home." Sans said in a strangely monotone voice.

Papyrus just sat down next to the small form in his jacket. How could he tell him no? How could he make him come back to a place he didn't want to be. But he couldn't let Sans go back to Snowdin, it was too dangerous.

"Listen I know you want to go hom-"

"I don't want to go home I am going home." Sans snapped cutting Papyrus off. The anger in his voice was something Papyrus hadn't heard in awhile. Even when he messed up Sans almost never showed anger just milad annoyance or disappointment.

"Sans." Papyrus started but Sans once again cut him off.

"Stop, we are not discussing this."

Now Papyrus was getting mad "You don't understand it's too dangerous what if someone found you?! What would happen then? We can't risk it, just come back to Undyne's. Please."

"Do you think I am stupid?" Sans said slowly turning towards Papyrus enough to show his dark sockets. "You think I don't know the risks? I have been living with this for years ! I know what to do, how to act, I can blend in. Why don't you trust me?"

"It's not that I don't trust you!" Papyrus said throwing up his hands in frustration. "I don't trust other monsters! Do you know what they are doing in Snowdin right now?"

"Probably a human hunt." Sans said crossing his arms and turning to look away from Papyrus who was stunted. Sans knew?! and he still wanted to go home? Did the little asshole have a death wish.

"How do you...?" Papyrus asked under his breath talking to himself but the angry skeleton got up on his feet and loomed over Papyrus angry intent radiating off of him. Even though Papyrus was taller when he and Sans were standing it was easy for the older of the two to actually be bigger.

"I know, Papyrus, because I am not an idiot! I have been training with Alphys for four years now. I know the procedure if there is a suspected human sighting. Monsters don't bleed Papyrus they dust! If my blood as found, and how could it not be with the location, an investigation would be launched."

"Then why would you want to go back there?!" Papyrus said getting to his own feet "The dogs have your sent! They will find you and there would be nothing I could do to stop it!" He took a deep breath to calm himself and then gave his final almost frantic plea. "Please come back to the labs."

Papyrus was shocked when he saw Sans go from angry to crying in seconds.

"I can't!" The smaller of the two said covering his face with the long orange sleeves of his borrowed jacket.

"Why...why not?" Papyrus asked losing steam as well.

"She must hate me." Sans said face still hidden "I abandoned her when she tried to help me."

Oh... Oh

"Sans... she's not mad at you she's worried." he said getting to one knee so he could be on Sans level. He went to put a hand on the crying skeleton's shoulder but when Sans felt the gesture Sans viciously pushed the hand away.

" S T O P " Sans growled out before he took a second to calm himself. "Just stop. Give me a second."

"I would love to but every second we stand here we risk being found. We should go."

"When did you become my boss?"

"Stop being so difficult! You're acting like a child."

"Well maybe I wouldn't act like one if you didn't treat me like one!"

Papyrus was caught off guard by this remark " I don't treat you like a child." Papyrus said somewhat lamely.

"Papyrus..." Sans said as he put his hands on his hips "That's all you've been doing since you've seen me without my mask. You haven't even called me brother once.."

There was an awkward pause before Sans continued.

"I get it. I am not mad about that. I understand if you don't want to be brothers anymore... I know I lied to you. Now you know what a mess I am I understand why you would keep an emotional distance."

This obvious self hate was making Papyrus' heart lurch but he couldn't find a moment to cut in.

"But that doesn't mean you can treat me like some broken piece of china. Like some child who doesn't understand what is happening! I don't know if you forgot but I am the older of the two of us. I have been on this earth longer than you Papyrus and I have learned how to function even if I am an ugly broken human in a world I was never meant to be in!"

"You're not a mess." He tried to comfort but Sans wouldn't have any of it.

"I don't need your pity. I know my own mind. I am familiar with depression I know how to cope... or at least I did."

Sans looked up at him with big sad eyes.

"I'm falling apart Papy, I can feel it."

That's when Papyrus threw all caution to the wind and engulfed Sans in a huge bear hug.

" 'm here for you so is Undyne. She really isn't mad I promise. We want to help."

* * * * *

He wanted to say more but after a few false starts Sans just relinquished himself to the silent sobs that wracked him. He regretted everything he had just said. Why couldn't he just keep his big mouth shut? Papyrus didn't need to deal with his problems. Another part of him was saying he did the right thing though.

God he really was a mess.

"I'm sorry about not thinking about your feelings." He heard Papyrus say.

"...not your fault." He managed to say through his tears.

"But it-" but Papyrus didn't get to finish his thought as a third body rammed into the two hugging monsters.

"YOU FOUND HIM!" Undyne wailed at full volume as she too decided to join the pity party as she too started to sob. All three of them fell to the ground from the force of Undyne’s tackle.

"I'm so sorry sans!" She cried as she kept the two pinned under her weight.

He really thought Undyne would be furious at him. So the fact that she was clearly not made a huge weight lift from his shoulders. Papyrus on the other hand was trying to push the sobbing heavy monster off of him.

" 'm glad to see ya too but can you stop crushing me and Sans?"

"No I can't! I am so happy Sans is okay!"

The two bickering friends made Sans feel more at ease even if he was being crushed by two monsters twice his size. That was until a fourth monster joined the fray.

"HEY PUNKS!" A loud boisterous voice yelled from the other end of the small cavern. The participants of the dog pile looked up to see a familiar captain of the royal guard standing there. When she saw who was in the rowdy gathering a smile lit up her scared face.

"OH HEY GUYS!" She shouted as she began to jog towards them.

"Fuck." Papyrus murmured and for once Sans agreed fully.


	7. Chapter 7

The three monsters piled up near the river in Waterfall were frozen in shock. They recovered quickly though and Papyrus along with Undyne got shakily to their feet. Alphys approached them, large energetic grin on her face. Sans was still sitting on the ground but quickly rose to his feet standing slightly behind the two larger monsters.

"Act natural." Papyrus said just loud enough for the small group to hear.

Undyne nodded her head but Sans just smiled

"Let me handle this." The smallest of the group said pushing his way past the two stunned companions.

Papyrus was about to protest but Sans was already waving a dangling sleeve in the air.

"ALPHYS!" He cried in an energetic voice as if none of the events of the past few hours or even days had ever happened.

It wasn't long before Alphys head reached to small group grabbing sans under the arms and pulling him into a bear hug.

"WHAT are two of my favorite people doing hanging out in the open WHEN THERE IS A HUMAN ABOUT!?" Alphys yelled the last six words right by Sans head but he didn't even flinch.

"Two?" Papyrus asked in his normal lazy tone.

"Yes two" Alphys replied shooting the tall lanky skeleton a glare. They hadn't spoken since he had said some not so nice things about Sans. Clearly she was still very angry but seeing her friend and trainee in such high spirits made Alphys hold her tongue.

While all this was going down Undyne was a nervous wreck. Putting Sans down Alphys walked over to her friend and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay! Don't worry about the human. We have our best people on the case!"  In a loud whisper she added "I don't even think there is a human down here."

"You don't?"  Undyne asked while wrining her hands together.

"Well maybe there was a human down here." Alphys said returning to her normal speaking voice "But they are probably dead by now. Humans don't like the cold. In fact long periods of exposure can cause them to die."

"Really?" Sans asked sounding intrigued and Papyrus had to stifle a laugh.

"Yup!  Humans are strong in soul, there body’s persist after death but all in all they are rather weak! Sometimes a human will fall and we will just find a body.  Of course that hasn't happened in at least a fifty years."

As Alphys spoke the river person's boat finally pulled into the Dock.

"Well that's our ride." Undyne pointed out sounding way to relieved.

"Mind of I catch a ride with you guys? I am heading over to the Capitol to get some drinks with the guard dogs."

"Sure." Papyrus cut in before Undyne blew a fuse.

"Of Course you can!" Sans cheered happily.

"Good to hear!" Alphys said following the small group onto the ferry and taking a seat next to Undyne.

Even though it was clear Sans was trying to keep up his energy it was waning quickly. The rocking of the boat combined with the warming air caused him to doze off leaning against Papyrus' arm.

As they were getting closer to Hotland Alphys broke the awkward silence that had been hanging over the group.

"So how are things going with you and your brother ?"

Papyrus cracked an eye socket and shrugged " things've been good." he responded casually.

Alphys didn't look satisfied with the answer.

"Then why is Sans covered in muck, soaking wet, without his 'battle body'?"

Papyrus honestly didn't have a good response to that one. The captain of the royal guard didn't get her position by being slow or unobservant.

"Actually that was my fault..." Undyne cut in "I asked Sans and Papyrus to go get some echo flowers. I needed them for an experiment."

"Ya" Papyrus cut in seeing Undyne struggling to come up with the next part. "Sans fell in the mud and I wasn't just going to let him wander around in wet clothes so I gave him my jacket."

Alphys opened her mouth to respond but Undyne cut her off "Oh look! it’s our stop!"

"we're here?" Sans asked groggily having woken up when Papyrus gently shook him.

Alphys looked about ready to blow a gasket at this point but to her credit kept her mouth shut.

"Ya we're here." Papyrus said deciding to strategically not deal with the situation in front of him.

Alphys ended up walking with the group to the Labs. Since it was on her way. Sans seemed dead on his feet during the short walk but refused help, wanting to walk on his own.  On Undynes end she seemed relieved to be back on her home turf and eager to get out of the dry heat. Papyrus kept up his cool uninterested attitude.

They reached the door of the labs, Alphys gave her friends good-byes as they went into the cool metallic building. That was until it was Papyrus turn and a scaly hand was placed firmly on his shoulder. Alphys had to reach up and stand on her tiptoes to do it but the look on her face would make the laughter die in the throats of much braver monsters then Papyrus.

"Not you."

Sans and Undyne both turned back concerned but papyrus just gave them a half hearted wave.

" I'll be there in a moment." He said and Undyne put a hand on Sans shoulder leading him into the labs and closing the door behind them.

When it was all clear Alphys finally removed her hand.

"Listen I don't know why you guys are lying to me but"

"We're not lying."

Alphys let out a frustrated breath of air "If you guys want to lie do a better job! If you and Sans were out gathering echo flowers why didn't you bring any back? If you gave Sans your jacket because his clothes got dirty, I mean seriously, why would you give him something just as wet and dirty to wear instead? and above all" Alphys said pointing a claw at the taller monsters chest "Why the hell would Undyne be there if you were running her errands!?"

When Papyrus didn't say anything Alphys just shook her head and turned away.

"I don't know why the three of you are lieing to me but just make sure those two don't get hurt."

"That's what I'm trying to do." Papyrus said in a serious tone Alphys had never heard him use before.

"Good." She said coldly before walking off.

Wow that is one pissed off monster Papyrus thought to himself as he went to pull a cigarette out of his hoodie pocket. Only to realize he was just wearing his black tank top instead. Well those smokes were probably gone forever, which really sucked because he could really use one about now.

* * * *

Sans was almost asleep when Undyne walked up. Her head was bent and she was playing nervously a bag she was carrying. Now that Alphys was gone he couldn't keep up his normally cheery attitude anymore and his empty eye sockets were staring at one of Undynes colorful posters as his mind wandered aimlessly.

"I'm sorry." She finally whispered.

"It's okay. I know you were just trying to help." Sans said sounding completely exhausted.

"I shouldn't have been so forceful. I know you were uncomfortable but I just-"

"It’s okay, I forgive you. Undyne you just wanted to help. You might have been a bit to forceful but it came from a good place."

Sans eyelights came back. They were dim and much smaller than usual but they were back and that was a good sign. "What’s that?" he asked pointing to brown paper bag Undyne had set down on the floor next to her feet.

"Food?" she said meekly.

The permanent smile etched into Sans mask turned up at the edges a bit at that.

* * * *

After the three had eaten their food Sans agreed to a very minor examination. There were conditions though. First Papyrus would be by his side the whole time, for moral support. Two no mirrors, both Undyne and Papyrus found this strange but Undyne agreed regardless. Three no needles or blood drawing. Fourth no photographs. Finally fifth no sterile environments, the examination would take place somewhere casual like Undynes living space.

Eager for knowledge of course Undyne agreed.

Basically the only thing she could really do was a visual assessment and measure height and weight. Still that would be enough to update the files. Most people underestimate the importance of records. However anyone who knows anything about scientific research knows that recording your findings is the most important thing.

If she kept a good record of how Sans growth was going she could keep an eye out for irregularities. This was so important and she was so relieved. Undyne had almost forgotten earlier that this was her friend and not just a subject. She had the tendency to very analytical but she couldn't let herself fall into that again.

She was determined not to make Sans uncomfortable. Even though they weren't as close as they could be Sans was still an important friend and she needed to keep that in mind.

So that's how they ended up in Undynes sudo apartment. Sans and Papyrus sitting on her unfolded bed as she sat across from them on a computer chair. Papyrus had blipped home to grab some new clothes for the two of them. Papyrus was in his "fresh" set of clothes but Sans was sitting there wearing nothing but his boxers. His new set of clothes were set neatly at the foot of the bed along with his mask.

They had already weighed and measured Sans growth at this point and Undyne was comparing this new information with the old.

"So you use to be about 55 inches , or about 4 and a half feet tall, and 94 pounds. Now you are about 58 inches tall. or 4 feet and 8/10ths of an inch and  102 pounds. So you have grown."

"Wow you're practically a giant." Papyrus said giving Sans a light shove.

Sans just rolled his eyes. Even though his eye light's gave a rather interesting impression of his mood. The bright blue eyes of his human form also had a sort of expression to the as well that made it very clear that he was both amused and annoyed.

"Guys be serious." Undyne cut in amusement lacing her voice.

"I am always serious." Papyrus said feigning hurt.

That got a laugh out of everyone.

Until the door to the labs swished open and a loud yell was heard from downstairs.

**"UNDYNE! SANS!PAPYRUS! SOMEONE BETTER GET OUT HERE RIGHT. THIS SECOND."**

"Shit." Papyrus said as he looked at Sans sitting on the bed. Undynes eyes had gone comically wide and some of the color had drained from her face.

"SOMEONE BETTER GET DOWN HERE OR I AM GOING TO START BREAKING STUFF!"

That got Undyne up and moving.

"Wait! Not my computer!" She yelled running down the stairs.

Undynes sudden dash broke the other two from there shocked daze.

Sans wiggled himself until he was under the blankets and nothing more than a lump in the bed.  Papyrus patted the lump where he assumed Sans' head was and got up to give the now completely covered human more room to wiggle into the center of the bed.

"Stay quiet Sans, I'll go see what’s up."

"Okay." Sans replied from under the sheets.

Papyrus waited a moment for the lump in the bed to stop moving and when everything was still he blipped downstairs.

The commotion was louder down here, the sound of items of all shapes and sizes being tossed around would probably be intimidating under other circumstances. Everything considered though it just made Papyrus think of a child who hadn't gotten what they wanted.

Casually walking out from behind a pile of boxes Papyrus dodged a tissue box that tried to make contact with his skull and laid eyes on the scene before him. Undyne was desperately trying to stop Alphys from smashing a small metal gizmo against the floor.

You would think that because Alphys was so small and Undyne was so tall it would be no trouble. Alphys was proving to be a difficult opponent though. That was until Papyrus walked up behind the unsuspecting monster and plucked the item out of her hand while the lizard monster was distracted.

He handed it back to Undyne who seemed extremely happy.

"Why don't you tell us what the problem is before you destroy something important."

"You three are hiding the human here!" The enraged monster accused.

Undyne didn't say anything, thankfully, letting Papyrus take the lead.

"We are not" Papyrus said casually "the three of us were just enjoying a nice sleepover, watching movies and the like, before you so rudely barged in an interrupted us."

"Where is Sans then?" Alphys asked eyes narrowing.

"He went to go grab some snacks from the store."

"I bet he is hiding with the human. I know you have it here and you guys just need to hand it over!"

"We don't have a human here!" Undyne cut in.

"You may not have them here but I know you've been in contact with them! When I went to the bar to have a couple of drinks with the dogs, they told me I had the humans sent all over me! They've been tracking it all day, there is no way they would make a mistake like that!"

"How do you know you got that smell from us?" Papyrus pointed out.

"YOU GUYS ARE INSUFFERABLE!" Alphys yelled out "I am trying to help you three out. Apparently you don't know how much trouble you would be in if other monsters found out you were hiding a human here! If you don't cooperate I will have to call in the K-9 patrol to investigate."

Papyrus and Undyne shared a look.

"I know you think it’s harmless but humans are dangerous, just hand it over. I promise they won't suffer and then we can all go to the surface together!" The small captain sounded desperate. She was clearly pleading as much as her pride would allow. It wasn't good enough though, nothing would ever be good enough to get them to give her what she thought she wanted.

"No," Papyrus said firmly.

"What?" The guard asked sounding baffled.

"No, even if we had a human, which we don't by the way, I wouldn't hand them over to you. "

That caused Alphys to growl baring her sharp teeth.

"Alphys you don't know what you're asking!" Undyne said as she made her appearance. she sounded panicked at the sudden show of aggression. Papyrus on the other hand was ready for a fight. His body was loose and ready to dodge at the first attack.

That was until one of Undyne's human history books hit Alphys square in the face.

Looking to where the projectile came from a small head with bright blue eyes and wild black hair could be seen peeking over the railing. A raised arm holding another book ready to be thrown was also in view.

" You" the aggravated guard said with a dangerous edge to her voice.

The small human was gone in a flash, causing Alphys to take off for the stairs leading to the second floor.

Papyrus and Undyne took off after a moment of shocked silence. But as they were headed up stairs they could see two flashes coming down the other set. The small human in the lead, but not by much. He was making a dash for the elevator that lead the lower floors.

Papyrus made a split second decision and blipd into the elevator opening the doors from the inside so Sans could save precious time. The younger of the two didn't have to worry though. Sans had been training with Alphys for quite some time. The captain never went easy on her friend always pushing him to be better. Sans knew all of her tricks and was able to easily avoid her attacks as he made it to the open elevator doors.

Papyrus had timed the whole thing so when Sans made it to the elevator the doors were already halfway closed. Alphys hadn't stood a chance. An angry screech could be heard from outside as the two began their descent into the depths of the labs.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys just leave them alone....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT INPORTANT NOTE: fixed chapter 3 there was a lot of it missing 
> 
> Just need to fix a few upload issues then on to the new content!!!!! Thank you for all the kind words and help in getting this far!!!

 

"Oh god, that was stupid." Sans said as he crouched down on the elevator floor holding himself.

"It wasn't stupid" Papyrus said putting a hand on the shaking human's shoulder "You probably stopped a big fight from breaking out. I think that was very brave."

Sans just shook his head "What do we do now? She knows there's a human down here with you! She'll never trust us again, even if we get away with this, what if she kicks me out of the guard-"

"You're not even in the guard."

"Exactly and now I never will be! Al probably won't even talk to me after this! That is if she doesn't throw us in jail for treason!"

"Calm down. We'll think of something." The elevator doors opened but neither brother walked out. Papyrus sat so his leg was extended keeping the elevator where it was as he put a comforting arm around Sans shoulders.

"You know Alphys better than most monsters down here. If there is anyone who could think of a way out of this mess it's you."

They could only hold the elevator for so long before Alphys got frustrated and tried to jump down the shaft, or something equally dangerous. Sans knew he had to move but it seemed as if all the energy had been zapped out of his body.

"Okay buddy we should probably get moving..." Papyrus said getting to his feet and grabbing Sans around the waist. Shocked Sans grabbed onto his younger brothers shoulders and wrapped his legs around his midsection.

"If this is such a big deal I could just teleport us somewhere where she can't find us. We could just hide out until this all blows over."

"NO!... no we can't do that." Sans said resting his head dejectedly into Papyrus shoulder.

"Why not?"

"We can't run from this. I've been running from this for years and now it's come back to bite me in the butt. If we run away now it'll just come back later and cause us more problems."

"So what should we do?" Papyrus asked. This was Sans show, Papyrus would do what the older of the two wanted. He couldn't force Sans into safety, he could just stand by him and make sure he came out the other end of this misadventure in one piece. God help whoever tried to hurt the little human he now held in his arms.

Papyrus was pulled out of his thoughts when Sans spoke up.

"We have to distract her, if we can keep her chasing us she won't have time to call the K9 unit. Then after she has chased us around a bit  then I can 'escape' into Hotland. If she focuses her search to this side of the underground we can go back home."

"We can give it a try." Was all Papyrus said "Are you ready?"

Sans nodded his head not moving until Papyrus went to move away from the elevator door. Suddenly Sans perked up and lifted his head.

"Wait."  Suddenly the air crackled with magic before Papyrus heard the dull thud of something hitting metal. Looking back he saw a white bone attack wedged into the open door.

Papyrus gave Sans a questioning look.

"That should buy us a little time." Was all he said as he put his head back into position not even volunteering to walk on his own.

"How long can you hold that?" Papyrus asked as he set off in a random direction.

"Long enough."

Papyrus made a humming noise of confirmation as he continued his trek down hallways that had been disused for years. He found himself wandering into a familiar direction. His feet followed a path that he himself hadn't followed since he was a small child. His memory of his childhood in the labs were fuzzy at best.

"Do you ever miss him?" Sans asked out of nowhere.

"Sometimes, I was kind of young when it happened though. Do you miss him?"

"Sometimes... He was nice."

A calm silence fell over the two as they made their way through dust coverd halls. That was until Sans flinched violently.

"You okay?"

"My  attack was shattered. I think Alphys is on her way."

"Shit, how'd she do that! It's been like ten minutes!"

Sans let out a tired breath. "Knowing her she probably just got tired of waiting. Maybe she jumped down the elevator shaft..."

"I would say that's bull but knowing Alphys you're probably right."

"Well we better get ready. She will probably find us really quickly."

Papyrus nodded and tightened his  hold on Sans. If Alphys found this deserted part of the labs it would be a piece of cake to follow Papyrus' footprints in the dust.

The only thing that could be heard in the silence was his own footsteps echoing back at him. The thwap thwap of his converse was slowly layered with a more metallic tink tink and he knew the game was almost up. He looked over to see how Sans was doing only to see light blue eyes looking back at him. Concern filled his soul when he noticed they didn't seemed to be quite focused.

"Hey little guy."

Sans eyes seemed to focus in as he heard Papyrus speak.

"yes?" He said words slurring a bit.

"I think you need to lie down."

" 'm fine" He said unconvincingly.

Now that Papyrus really looked he could tell Sans didn't look like he normally did with his mask off. He was a little paler than normal. Most of the monsters he knew in snowdin had fur or were made of stone but he still knew that skin tone changes were not a good thing.

Ya no.

Papyrus was not going to let Sans deal with this shit when he was in such a bad state. He probably just needed some rest so making a quick decision Papyrus made a jump to Sans' bedroom back home.

"Come on just take a little nap. I'll wake you if anything important happens."  Papyrus said as he put Sans into his bed covering the smaller of the two in his snug comforter. It probably wasn't good for the little guy to be wandering around in nothing but a pair of pants anyways. Sans was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Papyrus waited a moment to make sure Sans really was asleep before he made his way back to the point of the labs he had teleported away from. Luckily he appeared just in time, Alphys came stalking into view following the trail he had left intently. Taking the opportunity he lit up a cigarette and leaned casually on a nearby wall.

The click of his lighter was what alerted Alphys to his presents.

"  _ You _ ." She snarled that single word managed to carry so much venom in it. A lesser monster might have flinched or bolted but to his credit Papyrus just stood there smoke slowly drifting out of the cracks in his teeth before he opened his jaw and allowed the smoke to dissipate into the air.

"Me." Was all he said as he took another drag.

"Where is the human!"

"What human?" Papyrus knew he could be a smart-ass. In fact he took pride in it. This was a golden opportunity to show off his skills.

"Oh my GOD! PAPYRUS WHERE IS THE HUMAN YOU CAME DOWN HERE WITH!?!?"

"Ohhhhh that human?"

Alphys walked forward and grabbed the front of his hoodie forcefully dragging him down to her eye level.

"Yes, that human ."

Without taking his eyelights away from the Captain Papyrus inhaled some smoke and let it loose in Alphys face.

Immediately he was free as Alphys coughed up a lung in front of him.

"I don't know ,they went the other way. Said something about heading to the capitol."

"The Capitol! AND YOU DIDN'T TRY AND STOP THEM!?"

"Why would I? That kid seemed harmless enough..."

"Humans are not harmless !" Alphys hissed out "They are dangerous murders who show no remorse for their actions. They fear monsters and that fear breeds hate in their hearts. That human may seem nice but if they wanted too they could kill every one of us and you don't even seem to care that... that, thing is headed to one of the most densely populated areas in the whole underground !"

"If you think that they are going to be a problem why don't you  **go stop them** ?"

Alphys froze "...What’s your angle?"

"Hmm?" He hummed as he took a final long drag  before dropping the butt on the tiles and stepping on it.

"You've been trying to keep that human safe. Why tell me where they are now? Is... is it because of Sans?"

Papyrus' soul dropped but his face stayed neutral leaving Alphys fill in the silence herself.

"Is he with the human? Do you think I won't arrest him because he is my friend ? Do you think he can stop me from doing my job ?"

"I don't know. Do you think he can stop you from doing your job?" Papyrus threw back.

The Captain of the royal guard turned her back to the tall skeleton monster as she started to jog off in the other direction.

"I will do what I have to for my people."  He heard her say before she was too far away.

 

"That's what I'm afraid of." Papyrus mumbled under his breath as he teleported back to their home in Snowdin.

When Papyrus returned home he sent a text to let Undyne know what happened. She kept apologizing for Alphys but Papyrus kept shutting her down. It was hard but eventually the stream of  _ I'm sorrys _ had ended and they were able to have an actual conversation.

Pap: dude its fine chill

fish nerd supreme: Are you sure  he is okay!?!?!?!

Pap: Hes sleeping stop worrying. You can come over when Alphys' leaves and check him over. I think hes just exhausted.

fish nerd supreme: I will be over this evening. Alphys is searching the lab’s with the dogs right now. I hid Sans costume somewhere they literally  can't find it!!!

Pap: I trust you just bring it by when you come over tomorrow night.

fish nerd supreme: Will do! Let Sans know I said hi when he wakes up!

fish nerd supreme: WAIT! Let me know when he wakes up!

fish nerd supreme: DOUBLE WAIT! Tell him to text me when he gets up!

Papyrus put down his phone and ignored the rest of the texts. He would look at them later, right now he had to go check on Sans for the sixth time in the past hour.

When Papyrus finally made it to Sans’ room he found the small human groggily sitting up in bed. Sans didn’t seem to notice him opening the door so Papyrus knocked twice to get Sans attention.

Sans startled at the noise trying to jump out of bed but getting tangled in his bed sheets and ending up on the floor.

Sans let out an undignified yelp and even though he probably should have helped Papyrus could help the bay of unexpected laughter he let out at the ridiculous situation.

“Papy! This-” Sans reached for his legs to try and untangle himself “Isn’t-” Somehow the thin under shear had gotten tangled with his confider causing more mayhem. “Funny!”

“Come on, it kind of is…” Papyrus said not moving to help the squirming mess on the floor. That was until that squirming mess started to cough, starting off as a light sound but turning more violent as the seconds passed.

“Whoa there.” Papyrus said rushing over to firmly pat Sans back. After a few minutes the coughing fit passed leaving the smaller of the two winded. Just from rubbing Sans now bare back he could feel how warm the other was. Not really use to feeling of human skin though  he couldn’t be sure.

“Do you need some water?” Papyrus asked concerned. He had no idea what to do in a situation like this. Sans was the responsible one who knew how to take care of things! Papyrus was the one who knew all the best jape’s and napping spots!

“Sure.” Sans said with a slightly raspy voice.

Of course Papyrus had to help Sans out of his little ‘situation’ before he could leave. It would have been a lot easier if Sans hadn’t been so insistent on ‘helping’ . It took a lot of maneuvering, contouring, and a few kicks in the head for Papyrus to finally free the other.

Eventually Sans was settled back in bed with a tall cold glass of tap water on his bedside table.

“So, Undyne said she was gonna come by and drop off the stuff you left at her place. She also said ‘Hi’ and to text her but to be honest she also said she’d be over later tonight when Alphys leaves so she’s probably on her way over right now.”

Sans just nodded his head covering his mouth to stifle a cough.

“In the meantime you need to rest.”

“Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.” Sans whined falling back into his mattress with a small bounce and a half smile.

Sans was so easy to read without his mask.

“I’ll go wait for Undyne she should be here soon.”

“Mmhm” Sans mumbled rolling over to face the wall.

****

It wasn’t long before there was a knock on the door.

Papyrus, who had been enjoying a cigarette on the couch, took a moment to finish before he got up to answer the door. Of course he had been expecting Undyne to be there.

How was he supposed to react to the fact that instead of Undyne Alphys was standing there. Not in her full armour but in her casual jeans and tank.

“Can I come in?” She asked with a scowl.

“No?” Papyrus said confused. Did she really think he would just let her come into his home after she had threatened Sans? Not that she knew it was Sans but still…

“Come on asshole i’m freezing out here!”

“Well, i’m not the one who came without a jacket.” he said with no small amount of venom.

“And i’m not the one harboring a criminal!” the shivering lizard accused before putting her claws to her temples with a gentle rubbing motion.

“Listen, I didn’t come here to fight I just came here to talk. Can I please come in?”

Papyrus must have hesitated too long because the royal guardsmen added with the air of a threat “I can always come back with the dogs…”

Papyrus gave Alphys the most ‘fuck you’ look he could manage before stepping aside and letting her in. Sans was napping upstairs, as long as he stayed up there everything would be fine.

Closing the door he turned around to face the nuisance.

“So what do you want?” Papyrus didn’t move to let her deeper into their home just hanging by the front. Alphys didn’t move to go further ether and for that Papyrus was grateful.

“I want to talk to Sans.”

Papyrus’ soul dropped into his shoes but outwardly tried not to cringe.

“He’s not here.”

“HE’S NEVER AROUND! Something seriously fishy is going on and I am GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF IT!”

“What do you want from me?” Papyrus asked with very real annoyance.

“I want you to bring your brother out here so I can talk to him. I seriously doubt he knows what he’s gotten himself into. I don’t want that human to hurt him! He is my friend after all!”

“Sans is not stupid ”

“I never said he was!” Alphys exclaimed throwing her hands in the air “But he can be naive! Humans are dangerous animals who kill without mercy, you may be okay leaving your brother alone with something like that but I am not .”

Papyrus wanted to yell, he wanted to grab this insufferable lizard by the shoulders and shake her. She had no idea what she was talking about and yet she continued.

He was about to start really getting into it but a cough from the upstairs hallway stopped him dead in his tracks.

Both of the monsters heads swung around at the same moment. Looking over the banister was a very familiar shape obscured completely by sheet's. Not a single bit was uncovered and the shadow of the makeshift hood had the small figures face completely obscured.

“Hey, Alphys.” Sans said voice even more raspy than before.

“Hey sans.” Alphys said seemingly thrown off by this development. “Do you mind if we talk?”

When Sans said ‘Yes’ Papyrus was thrown for a complete loop. He cut in trying to defuse the situation.

“Maybe you can come back later Alphys. Sans isn’t feeling too well and…”

But he was cut off by the figure from upstairs.

“It’s okay Papy I know what i’m doing.”

Alphys gave a smug look as she made her way up the stairs to go to where she knew Sans room was.

 

Papyrus was left standing downstairs completely befuddled and confused but most of all concerned. 

 

****

Sans was so tired.

He knew Alphys better than anyone and it was obvious she wouldn’t give up on this.

As he led her into his room Sns made sure the sheets were completely covering him one last time. This talk was probably going to end badly but hopefully if he came clean Alphys wouldn’t kill him.

Hate him? Yes.

Never talk to him again? Yes.

Take away his job. Of course.

But kill him?

They had known each other for a long time they were really close friends.  She would probably spare his life if he played his cards right… Probably.

“So Sans-” Alphys tried to start but he was quick to cut her off.

“We are friends right?” Sans must have sounded as exhausted and sick as he felt because Alphys immediately changed gears.

“Of course we are!” Alphys responded as if it was the most absurd question he could have asked.

“No matter what?” He asked tentatively.

“Of course! Sans come on!” She exclaimed punching the blanket lightly “I know what this is about Sans.”

“You do?” the confusion must have been blatant in his voice because Alphys let out a small laugh.

“Of course I do you dope! You can’t hide stuff from me!” She put a reassuring hand on Sans back “I just want you to know I’m not mad.”

“You’re not?”

“Come on Sans! I know you always think the best of people and that’s what I love about you! But you need to understand that humans are dangerous. You may think you’re helping it by keeping it hidden but what happens when it hurts somebody?!”

“Oh-” That’s what she thought he was talking about.

“What if this human was hurt on the surface, really bad, then came down here and found a home? Would you take that from them?”

“Sans’” Alphys began with the air of someone who was trying to explain something complex to a small child “It’s not my job to worry about humans. In the royal guard we have to worry about monster’s first. This human has the last soul we need! Do you really want to deprive everyone the chance of seeing the sun? The stars? The sky?!”

“No I don’t” He responded quietly letting the sheet fall.

The royal guardsman was on her feet in seconds, magical axe in hand ready to use. “What did you do to Sans?”

“I am Sans.” He said not breaking eye contact.

“What kind of human magic is this? Did you steal his voice? Did you eat him? YOU ATE HIM DIDN’T YOU?!?!”

He should have been scared. Alphys was dangerous and could kill him easily. But the panicked look on her face at the idea of Sans eating… well himself made the laughter start out of the blue. The absurdity of it all was to much.

“Come on Al.” Sans said through his giggles “Do you know anything about humans?”

When Sans’ finally looked up he saw the hard look in Alphys eyes.

“If you are Sans then you know better then anyone what is at stake here.”

“I do.” He said simply the giggle fading away under his friends intense attitude.

“Then give me your soul, so we can be free.”

“I can’t.” Sans said pleadingly “It’s useless my soul can’t break the barrier.” 

 

“ _ How can you know that _ ? If you really are Sans how can I trust anything you tell me? How can I trust ANYTHING you’ve told me!?!?!”

 

Alphys put her had out and made a very distinct gesture.

There was a PING and he felt the distinct emptiness in his chest that signaled the absence of his soul. There was a gasp that he thought might have been Alphys. A shout that might have been Papy or Undyne. But he was so sleepy all of a sudden.

Sans did not fight the darkness that consumed him. The stress of being confronted by his once friend. The fever that was racking his body. The fear of losing everything. It was too much for the small human.

He would deal with this later.

 

… if later ever came for him. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alphys get yo shit together girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New content! Tank you everyone who has been with me to this point! We are maybe two chapter from the ending! Three years and we are finally here. :D

Papyrus was standing outside his brother’s room. He couldn’t hear what was being said but the infliction was clear enough. 

Sans said he could handle this but Papyrus couldn’t help the worry gnawing at his soul. 

Then Alyphys yelled and Papyrus was done waiting.   
He slammed the door open and what he saw stopped him dead in his tracks. 

Alphys was standing in the room soul floating in her hands. A sad cracked and malformed soul that Papyrus could never forget. 

“Give me the soul.” Papyrus said in a low dangerous voice.

Alphys glared “No! This is our freedom! Papyrus don’t you get it? we can finally leave this dump! Don’t you see that!?” 

“I would rather live down here forever with Sans then spend a single day on the surface without him.” and there was some small part of himself that was glad it was true. 

That seemed to make something click in her head. 

“But this is a human…” She said.

“Have you even looked at what you are holding? Do you really think that looks like a normal human soul?!” 

Papyrus was the judge and Alphys was head of the guard so they had both been given similar training, part of which included a peek at the already collected  souls. 

Alphys face paled as she looked, really looked at, the soul hovering above her clawed hands. Then looked back to the limp human on the bed.

“Put Sans soul back.” Papyrus demanded. 

“He’s a human!” She responded trying to cover her uncertainty with anger. 

“Put. Sans. Soul. Back.”

“I already called the dogs. They’ll be here soon.” 

“Please put his soul back.” Papyrus pleaded. “Sans has been nothing but kind to everyone. Please don’t kill him. He’s all I have.”

That seemed to break her. “Shit” Alphys mumbled seaming to come to a conclusion. 

The soul floated back to sans and into his body once again. “Shit! I already called the dogs. They will be here soon.”

“How much time do we have?” he responded taking a step towards Sans to check him.

“Maybe fifteen minutes.”

Papyrus checked Sans as he thought of what to do. His HP was steady even though the small human was warm, it seemed like he had just passed out again. Convinced he wasn’t going to die on him Papyrus turned back to Alphys.  

“Okay I have a plan.” 

Alphys looked to Sans with regret. “ What's the plan?” 

Papyrus wanted to take Sans and run but he knew that would only cause more problems. Even though he didn’t trust The Queen as far as he could throw her he trusted Alphys. 

“ They are going to take him to the Queen to be killed. We are on a timer so I can’t explain everything but I need you to stay with Sans and keep him as safe as you can.” Alphys just turned and gave him a nod. “I need you to dress him and get him into something warm as well.He’s been in a really bad way and the cold will only so more harm.” Alphys headed to the closet and Papyrus went to grab what he’d need. Before he left he said one last thing “Don’t leave him alone. Stay with him and keep him safe.”

“We are dealing with monsters not humans. None of my guards will hurt him.” Alphys said confidently. 

Papyrus grabbed her arm. “I don’t care! If you stay with him and keep him safe I can do what I need to!” 

Alphys pushed his arm away. “I promise! Now go before the dogs get here.” 

“I’ll meet you guys at the castle.” Papyrus responded winking and poping out of the room.

He reappeared in front of the labs. He wasn’t going to let Sans get hurt. In order to do that he was going to have to act fast.

He slammed the door open finding a snoring Undying in front of her computer.

“ ‘Dyne! Wake your ass up! We’ve got a problem.” 

******   
 Sans wake up to a gentle rocking and the sound of water.  

Normally he would have been alarmed at this turn of events but all Sans felt was hot and feverish. His arm was throbbing and everything was blurry. 

“It’s up.” A voice to his left growled.   
“He’s up “ he heard Alphys growel in return.

“Don’t get attached cap’ that thing’s not gonna last long against The Queen.”

“(Don’t be mean to the pup) yes, there is no need to be cruel”  
“It doesn't matter.” the first voice replied. 

There was the noise of sizzling and the smell of something burning. 

A clawed hand was rubbing at his shoulder. That combined with the gentle sloshing allowed Sans to drift off again. 

****  
“This better work.” Undyne said to herself as she pulled her cellphone out.

****

Papyrus walked up to the bar at muffets.   
“Hello sweets! I haven’t seen you here in quite awhile.”

“Yeah.” Papyrus replied shuffling his feet “Can I talk to you in private? It’s about Sans.”

There was a crack in Muffets aloof mask. “Of course dear. Let’s take this into the back.” 

****  
Sans woke up again to a gentle warmth radiating through his body.

“There you go.” It was Alphys again. 

Sans opened his eyes and saw he was in a sparkly decorated room With a metal door. 

“Where…?” He asked voice croaking. 

“Hey Sans.” Alphys sounded almost demure. Sans had never heard her speak so softly. “I healed you a bit. It won’t cure any serious problems but it should make you feel better. I’m not great but I’m better than the nerds.”

Sans chuckled “Yeah, Papy couldn’t heal his way out of a wet paper bag.” 

He raised a hand to rub at his face but saw his ungloved hands and froze. “Oh.” 

“Yeah, so you’re a human huh?” 

Sans dropped he hands to the bed limply. “Yeah.” he responded sadly “I’m a human.” 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alphys asked sounding hurt.   
“You are the captain of the guard. I couldn't put you in that position.” After a short pause he added. “And I never really gave it much thought. I was rasied down here. I have lived way longer down here then I ever did up there. I don’t usually think of myself as a human or monster. I’m just Sans you know?“

“I’m sorry.” Alphys sounded like she was going to cry. That made Sans finally sit up and look at her. 

“Why you didn’t do anything wrong?”

“Yes I did! I’m the one who called the dogs on you! It’s my fault the Queen is going too…” 

“Alphys, you were just doing what you had to do. It’s not your fault.” 

Alphys gave a watery laugh. “You should be mad at me…”

Sans gently put a hand on her shoulder “Have you even know me to be the type to get mad?” 

That got a bark of laughter out of her “No, even when you really should.” 

There was the sound of footsteps approaching from outside.

“Whatever happens I don’t blame you. “ Sans said getting to his feet. 

The door swung open revealing a dog smoking something that smelled like burning hair. “Hey Cap’ you need to go talk to the Queen. “

“No, I am guarding the prisoner.” 

The dog just looked at her sitting on the bed skeptically “Yeah that's why I’m here. Go give Queeny her report so we can get this show on the road.”   
Alphys didn’t want to leave Dogo alone with Sans but she also couldn’t refuse an order from the Queen. “Fine, but I will be back soon.” Before she left she turned back to the dog. “And I don’t want to see a single scratch on him when I get back.”

Dogo just gave a shit eating grin as she left and replied “I promise. Not a scratch on it.” 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus and The Queen have a talk

Sans just stared at Dogo uncertainly. 

Doggo stared at him in fascination. 

“So this is what all the fuss was about huh?” Dogo said breaking the tension. 

He didn’t want to be rude but he had never met Dogo before. The dog was giving off some creepy vibes so he decided to sit and wait to see what happened.

“I’m not impressed.” He finally decided as he blew out a puff of smoke. 

“I’m sorry?” 

“I thought you would be some grand…” He took another drag and let out the smoke in an angry breath. 

“How could such a small soft looking loser be viewed as such a treat?”  Dogo finally asked. 

“I don’t know.” 

Suddenly Dogo was in his face and Sans scooted as far as he could get. Pressed again the wall he huddled  in on himself to make himself look smaller. 

“Pathetic,” Dogo whispered before socking him in the face. 

Sans couldn’t even cry out before he was clutching at his nose. There was a horrible grinding feeling and he had to pull back with a sob. There was blood on his hands and he could feel a sticky warmth on his nose and mouth. 

Dogo just laughed, “ I don’t see what Queeney is so worried about. If all humans are like you we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.” 

Sans spit into the sheet and the spit was tinged with blood. 

“Stop crying.” Dogo said dismissively as he went back to the door to lounge. 

But he couldn’t stop.

This sucked. 

****

Papyrus knocked on the throne room door. 

“Come in” A soft voice called.

Papyrus braced himself clutching the folders in his arms more tightly. 

With his free and he pushed open the door. 

Queen Toriel looked up from her book. Walking into the throne room was like walking into a fancy drawing room. 

“Ah, my judge what a pleasure.” The Queen said standing from her throne. 

She never talked with her staff from the throne. She gestured over to a small table with a covered tray. 

Papyrus knew it was fruitless to try and talk to her before she had fed him something. So he dutifully sat down and set his papers to the side. 

“I have made these wonderful scones you really must try some.”

Papyrus waited until he’d  taken a bite and completed the taste. 

“I know why you are here friend.” 

Papyrus almost spit his bite he had taken and had to cough out a “you do?” 

“Yes and I am excited as well. Soon we will be on the surface once more and hopefully we will once again be able to live under the sun.”

Papyrus shook his head “That is not exactly what i’m am here  about.” 

“Oh?”  She asked curiously. 

So Papyrus pulled out the files he had borrowed from Undyne. “I’d like to show you these.”

So The Queen read through the files. It took some time but with Papyrus’ help she was able to understand. After some time Torel took off her reading glasses.

“So are you telling me that there was a royal scientist before Undyne. This man, whom I do not remember, kept a human as a son. This human has been living underground with us?”

Papyrus just nodded.

“Well I know you would never lie to me and these are my signatures. However I am concerned to find out that you would hide the truth from me.” 

Papyrus ducked his head. “This is not judge related. This is my life and he is my brother.”

A sadness seeped into The Queen’s eyes. No doubt thinking of her son and their human siblings. 

“I can allow this human to stay if you wish to vouch for him and prove the state of his soul. However I do not feel comfortable letting a dangerous unknown element roam the kingdom unsupervised. I will have him stay here in the castle with me. “

Papyrus ground his teeth together angrily. “As a prisoner.” 

“The accommodations will be quite lovely-”

“No, he will be coming home with me.”

“You are just a consultant I am the one who makes the rules. I am being quiet kind in offering -”

“What if I can prove he is not a threat!” 

The Queen looked perturbed “If you can prove without a shadow of a doubt that this human who has been masquerading as a monster will be a  valuable member of our community, then I might consider it.” 

“I can do that.”

“Good then I will set up the hall of judgment. It will be ready shortly. “

**** 

Alphys walked into a scene that enraged her. 

Dogo was leaned against a wall picking at his teeth as Sans sat on the bed holding his face.

There was blood all over the place. 

“I TOLD YOU NOT TO HURT HIM!”

Dogo snickers “No you told me not to scratch it. I didn’t scratch.” He mimicked a boxer.

Alphys grabbed Dogos shirt and bounced him off the wall. When he yelled and lost his balance Alphys put her all her weight into a body slam. 

“What the fuck!?” he said when he was finally able to get his breath back. Alphys was already checking Sans to make sure he was okay. The crooked swollen clearly broken nose was answer enough. 

Turning, eyes full of rage, Alphys said “You are on two weeks suspension. When that is over we will review your actions and if you are deemed unable to continue your duties you will be relieved of duties.”

“This is bullshit!” The angry dog snarled.  

“You can leave.”

“No! You cannot seriously be choosing this human over me!” 

“Let me rephrase that. L E A V E” 

“I’ll tell everyone! I’ll tell them how you are such a human lover! How you-” but he couldn’t finish because there was a loud crunching sound of an axe destroying the drywall next to his head. 

“You can tell anyone anything you want. And i’ll tell everyone how you attack an unarmed prisoner.”

Dogo looked like he wanted to argue but Alphys just stood her ground. Finally Dogo spit in her direction and left. 

When Alphys turned around Sans was curled against the wall. With the broken nose he looked like a kicked puppy. 

“Papyrus is gonna kill me.” She mumbled to herself.

“Why would he? You didn’t punch me.”

“I promised I wouldn’t leave you alone. I promised I’d keep you safe.”

Sans gave her a flat look and deadpanned “Yeah, he might kill you.”:

That caused her to bark out a surprised laugh. “Yeah i’m a dead man walking. How about we get you a little cleaned up before you meet with the queen?”

Sans just looked resigned as Alphys helped him get cleaned up. She taped up his nose a bit and helped wash the blood from his skin. There was nothing they could do about the stained jacket so they took it off. The shirt underneath was less stained but it would have to do. Even if it left his arms bare.. 

Just before they had finished there was a knock at the door.

“Enter!” Alphys yelled out.

Two dog monsters entered the room. They were standing shoulder to shoulder and holding hands. 

“Hello captain” (Hello captain!)

“Just hold up a second you two we are almost done.”

The female dog put a hand over her muzzle and the male dog looked sick.

“What happened to the pup?”  (Poor pup!)

“Dogo happened. He’s young and stupid but this is way out of  line.“

“Lesser and Greater will not be happy to hear about this.” (we will all have a talk with him) the two growled out clearly agitated. 

The female dog and the male dog both walked up to Sans and looked very sad when he flinched away from them  “We won’t hurt you pup.” (we are very sorry this happened.) 

Sans gave a weak smile. “Thank you, but don’t be to hard on him. He was just doing what he thought was right.” 

The Dog couple gave each other a sad look. “We will keep that in mind,” (Thank you pup)

“So is everything ready?” Alphys asked.

“Yes! The Queen has prepared The Hall of Judgement.” (The Judge has convinced her to hold a trial!) 

“To see if I will live or die?” Sans asked. He knew the answer but he wanted to hear it. 

The male dog leaned down and gave Sans a hug and his wife (girlfriend?) soon joined. 

“We were listening when your brother and The Queen talked” (We were guarding the door.)  
   
“Papyrus talked to Queen Torel?”

“Yes!”(The trail will be to see if you will have to live in the castle under watch.) “Or if you can become a citizen if the Underground!”

“That's great! Hear that Sans!?”

"If I have to live here will I still be able to see my brother?”

“I’m sure you will.” Alphys put a hand on his shoulder “Let’s get this show on the road.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody want's Sans to be sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking with me until the end!!
> 
> I am sorry it took me 3 years to finish this. 
> 
> There have been so many up's and downs in my life but this story has always been in the back of my mind. It's finally complete though! 
> 
> To everyone who has helped me and cheered me on you can never know how much all of your kind words have meant to me. 
> 
> So now for the last time on this fic. I hope you enjoy!

Papyrus was the first to arrive in the hall. With no sign of The Queen or his brother all he could do was wait.

 The hall was silent as a tomb. It might as well have been, with how many  lives had been cut short or irreversibly changed here. Papyrus had never been on this side of a judgement. Never had to mull over the true weight  of this thing he had often been apart of. 

He would see if the person was guilty, then wham bam thank you ma’am , trial over. The waiting, the stress, this was the absolute pits. 

The door swung open drawing his attention. Alphys walked in escorting Sans by holding one of his elbows. At first he was ecstatic that was until he saw the dark stains on his brothers shirt and the dark splotches on his skin Sans looked like was about to fall over. 

Instead of yelling or pitching a fit Papyrus calmly walked over gently removed Alphys had from his brothers shoulder and just as calmly threw Alphys against a wall using blue magic. 

Both Alphys and Sans let out a cry of shock as the lizard monster hit the wall. Alphys of pain and Sans of destress. Sans tried to take a step forward to help his ‘friend’ but Papyrus held him back .

“ Papyrus what are you doing!?”

He didn’t even look at Sans instead growling out “You made a promise!” at the prone Alphys.

“I’m sorry I-”

“You what? Lied to me? Hurt Sans?” every accusation was accompanied by a step forward. “How could you do this to your friend? My brother?” 

Papyrus was now standing over Alphys who was looking down at the floor in shame. 

Papyrus was so consumed with rage he didn’t hear the footsteps coming up behind him. He a[so didn’t hear his name being called. The thing that finally got his attention was Sans grabbing onto his hood and frimley pulling him onto his ass. 

Papyrus looked up bewildered, “Sans?”

“Yes Papy, you should not be treating Alphys like this. She has been nothing but kind to me-”

“But your face!!” 

“That wasn’t her and the person who was responsible is already being taken care of.” Sans said firmly. “Now apologise.” 

“But-”

“Now Papyrus.” 

Slowly he got to his feet “Sorry.” He said not sounding sorry at all. 

“Papyrus”  

“Fine! Alphys i’m really sorry!” 

She just smirked “Apology accepted.”

Papyrus let out a groan as Alphys and Sans shared a laugh. However, all three of them went silent when they heard another laugh join in. 

Looking behind them they saw that The Queen joined them in the hall and was trying to stifle her laugh behind a large white paw. 

The three monsters who had been bickering stopped so they could take a knee.

“Oh my, there is no need for such formality. You may rise.”  

They all rose and stood staring at the Queen waiting to be addressed. 

“Oh my! Are you alright? That looks quite painful.”

“Oh Yes!” Sans replied not making eye-contact. ‘Alphys has already healed me.” 

Although it was supposed to be soothing that statement it only seemed to make The Queen more agitated. 

“It was worse?” She asked.

“The culprit is being reprimanded.” Alphys cut in 

“Thank you captain. I would like to speak to the individual when we are done here.”

“Of course your majesty.” 

“Now.” Toriel said “I believe we are here to discuss Sans new living situation.” 

The brothers both nodded as Papyrus spoke up. 

  
“Yes, we would like for Sans to be able to continue his life normally. Living in Snowdin with his family and friends.” 

“Well unfortunately that will not be allowed.” 

Papyrus could feel his eye twitch. 

“Well I think I can make a compelling argument-”

“I am sure you can.” The Queen said tone that of a mother trying to redirect a misbehaving child “It is too dangerous for everyone involved. I may have misspoken earlier the is not a ‘discussion’ of whether or not your brother will live here. It is a discussion of how you would like to commence with the transition.“

“That's not fair! “ Papyrus snapped.

There was a tug on his sleeve. When he looked down he saw Sans was looking up at him with watery eyes. “Don’t” He almost whispered. 

Alphys took this momentary lack of borderline yelling to cut in. “I would be willing to vouch for Sans loyalty to monster kind.”

Toreil turned her gaze to the captain.  “You realize that if this human was to hurt anyone you would be held responsible.”

Alphys turned to look at Sans. Looked at his wide shocked eyes and gave him a crooked grin. “This punk couldn’t hurt a fly.”

“I Vouch for him as well!” Papyrus announced.

“Two vouchers will not be enough to make me look the other way on this;”

Papyrus perked up at this “Well actually I called some people if you would be willing to hear them out.”

There was a more instant tug on Papyrus sleeve. He looked and saw Sans frantically shaking his head and mouthing ‘no’ repeatedly. 

Papyrus got down on a knee and put a hand on Sans shoulder. “Hey it’s gonna be okay. Do you trust me?” 

Without a moment's hesitation Sans nodded his head “Yes”

“Trust me bro. I know I've been a dick, let me make it up to you.”

“Okay” Sans said after a moment of sniffling. 

Papyrus stood back up and faced The Queen again.

“Fine ,you may let these people speak”

With an excited grin Papyrus pulled out his phone and sent a Text to Undyne 

Go time

***********

The first monster to step in is Muffet.

She is wearing her dinner attire complete with stained apron.

“My Queen” She greeted with a deep bow.

She glanced over to Sans. The short human had a look that said ‘ I hate my life and the universe and you know what let’s throw the multiverse into the mix to spice things up’ 

Muffet had to try and cover her smile as she glanced back to her queen. 

“Hello Muffet I am lead to believe you are willing to vouch for the human Sans?”

“Yes I am”

“How do you two know each other?” 

“When Sans moved him and Papyrus to Snowdin I kept an eye on them. They were both so young at the time. I wanted to make sure they were both doing okay. Sans worked my shop for awhile. He helped me serve and helped sales quite a bit while he was there. People would love to come into the Cafe to talk to him. 

Over time those two sscamps grew on me and now I think of them as family. I have seen them grow up. Watched them make friends. Watched them make Snowdin a happier place.” 

Toriel nodded. “I see thank you for your time.” 

*****

The next monster to walk in was Cattie.

When she saw Sans she gave him a big wave and an excited smile.

Sans looked like he wanted to cry and Cattie sobered up a bit at his messed up face. 

“My Queen.” Catted said as she gave a quick bow. 

“Hello,I am lead to believe you are willing to vouch for the human Sans?”

“Totaly!”

“Then may I ask how you two know each other?”

“Well… When Sans moved to Snowdin we became like best friends!  We would always hang out. Sans had this really cool video game thing and the three of us would all play together!  And we had snowball fights! It was sweet!

We stopped hanging when I met my girlfriend. But! When me and my GF became guards in Snowdin. I found out Sans was a Sentry!!! We don’t hang out as much because … like life? But he is like a little brother to me!”

With an unreadable poker face Toriel nodded.

“Thank you for your time.” 

Cattie nodded and on her way out gave sans a subdued smile and wave. 

*****

The next monster to make an entrance was Grillby. 

He made his way into the room and when he caught sight of the beaten human his flames flared an angry red for a second. He quickly got himself and when he saw how scared Sans looked he blew him a silly little kiss. His own way of letting the little guy know everything was going to be okay.  

“Hello,I am lead to believe you are willing to vouch for the human Sans?”

Grillby gave a curt nod. 

“May I ask how you know him?”

Grillby gave another nod before he started to sign. 

“I have known him for a long time. When he lived in Hotland he washed dishes for me. It was only twice a week for pocket money until Sans became the sole caretaker of him and his brother. Then Sans worked full time but after some time it was clear Sans couldn’t afford to keep living so close to the capitol. 

I helped him find a place he could afford in snowdin.

After that he still came around the grill at least once a month. More often if I needed help behind the bar.”

“You let a child work around booze?!”

Grillbys fire crackled in an amused manor. 

“I let that ‘child’ “ He signed child in a mocking manner “Serve alcohol he is older then he looks and got very good at a few of our key cocktails. All the dogs adoor him, I’ve seen him handle himself fine when patrons got a bit rowdy. He never hurt anyone but a little bit of blue magic had them sliding right out the door.” 

“I see, Thank you for your time.” 

Grillby left clearly agitated but gave sans a wink on his way out. 

****

The last monster to make their way into the room was Undyne.

She looked absolutely terrified but catching sight of   
Sans she managed to gain a small boost of confidence. 

Sans smiled at her and that coaxed a small smile out of the nervous scientist. 

“Hello Undyne.” Toriel greeted warmly.

“HI” She responded not making eye contact. 

  
“I am lead to believe you are willing to vouch for the human Sans?”

“Mmmm-hmmmm” 

“Can you tell me how you know him?”

“Me and Papyrus both like science. We hung out a lot and so me and Sans hung out a lot too.”  She took a moment to chew her lip nervously.

 “We became really good friends. I lost my parents and Sans would have me over for dinner a lot when he found out. My foster parent tried to take care of me but they were so busy and tired all the time… and I was a teen by the time I came to live with him. So I tried to be self reliant  but Sans made sure to keep me fed and give me a place to sleep when I ‘ran away’ “ 

“He would find old textbooks at the dump for me and Papyrus. I probably would be the royal scientist today if it wasn’t for Sans Papyrus and those books.” 

Toriel noded “Thank you for you time.”

****

When Undyne had left the room Toriel spoke “I would like to speak to Sans alone before I make up my mind.”

Papyrus stepped up as if to argue but before he could Sans spoke up. 

“That is more than reasonable.”  He turned back to his friends “I will be okay. You guys can leave.” 

Alphys slapped a hand onPapyrus’ shoulder. “Okay let's go buddy.”

“Fine.” He looked to Sans “Just start yelling if she tries anything.”

Sans just smiled “Sure.”

When they were gone Toriel slumped a bit “That was quite a lot was it not?”

Sans nodded but said nothing. 

“Let’s take this to the throne room.” 

Once again Sans just nodded and followed The Queen.

She led him into the throneroom and too her nice little tea table.

When they were settled she began to speak. 

  
“It seems as if you have made a big difference in many monsters lives. You must understand that I cannot have a human working in the guard correct?”

Sans wasn’t sure how he could buy food without his nicely paying sentry job but he’d make do “Yes”

“However from what I hear you are very good for moral. Sentry is also under the Guard captain ‘s jurisdiction not mine technically not part of the guard so it shouldn’t be too much trouble if you were to stay.”

Sans head shot up and his eyes widened “I can stay with Papyrus?”

“Yes. Many of my people have vouched for you. You must understand if you were to hurt anyone, not only you would be punished but them as well.” 

There was a bunch of guilt and joy churning in his gut. All of the emotions just came out at one and he started to cry “Thank you. Thank you, Thank you so much.” 

Toriel just smiled at him “You will have to check in with me once a month but other then that you will be allowed to live your life as you have been.”

Sans was so happy he couldn’t breath He must have fuzzed out for a moment because the next thing he knew papyrus was there. He was crying too. They both just sat there in eachothers arms crying and laughing. 

Soon he would have to talk to everyone who had helped him.

He would have to throw them the biggest thank you party ever.

But for now he just wanted to sit here and be comforted by his brother. 

*Later*

Sans was checking himself over in the mirror.  
He was wearing his full battle body, mask, gloves the whole kit and caboodle. 

Through the door he could hear the din of chatter from downstairs. Everyone was here.

Papyrus opened the door “You ready?”

“Papyrus! What did I say about knocking?” 

“To do it?”

“Yes!!!!”

Papyrus just laughed “It’s good to have you back.”

Sans just smiled back. So hard his cheeks hurt “It’s good to be back.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments. I know some things are unclear and I would love to discuss it!


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